Thursday 27 September 2012

Shantanu Bhagwat conducts Business Plan workshop at IIM Raipur


A business plan workshop was conducted on Thursday at IIM Raipur by Mr. Shantanu Bhagwat, a leading venture capitalist and advisor, who is associated with firms like Myntra.com, Elements Akademia, and MilkMantra. Mr Bhagwat had taken similar workshops at institutes like IIM Indore and IIT Bombay. This workshop was organized to promote and instill the spirit of Entrepreneurship across the state. Mr Bhagwat helped participants to conceptualize new ideas and opportunities that are emerging.

The whole concept of the workshop was to explain students about the compilation and presentation of a business plan in an effective mannerso as to attract funding from venture capitalists when starting a business of their own.

It started off with the basic understanding of entrepreneurship andhow to decide on whether can one become an entrepreneur or not.In the words of Tarang Singhal , a student attendee “ Mr. Bhagwat actually helped us figure whether we can become entrepreneurs or not.”

Mr. Bhagwat told that entrepreneurship is not glamorous, most of the startups fail and most of the entrepreneurs are not rich when they start. So he told that the basic requirement of an entrepreneur is the ability to take risks, one should learn the skills of managing risks rather than being averse to it. Rahul Khedkar, a first year student of IIM Raipur, said “Mr Bhagwat helped us in knowing practical problems in entrepreneurship and how to tackle them.”

He explained the importance of understanding the perspectives of the audience of the business plan. The plan should effectively communicate the benefits to the investors because no one is interested in doing charity. A good investor not only brings money but also value to the venture.

He also talked about the constituents of a good business plan.The plan should necessarily have a competitive landscape, industry analysis, risks and the mitigating factors. The plan should tell about the opportunities and the idea in a clear and crisp manner. He demonstrated all these necessities with appropriate examples.

He also suggested that there should be direct quotes and references from various resources and all the facts should be backed by statistics. In the words of Manu Dhunna, another attendee from IIM Raipur, “ A case study was solved during the workshop which helped us in learning from the real life story of an entrepreneur.”

The cases discussed were confidence boosters for the audience as they could actually relate the workshop with their real life experiences. Mr. Naresh Verma , a member of CII Chhattisgarh remarked , “ After attending the workshop I have gained confidence to expand my business.”

Mr. Bhagwat talked about the importance of efforts required to be put in the next 15-20 years by budding entrepreneurs as this will be a crucial phase in the growth story of the nation.Prof. Sanjeev Prashar, Chairman of Placement Committee at IIM Raipur thanked Mr. Bhagwat for conducting the workshop at IIM Raipur campus and in helping participants understand the idea of entrepreneurship so that more jobs can be created in the state and the nation at large.

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