1) If you are below 35 years of age…

2) If you have started an innovative start up in the past five years…

Please download the application form for the Businessworld Young Entrepreneur Awards contest from www.businessworld.in, and apply with the requisite details. A jury of eminent people will choose the winners in two categories. The chosen ones will feature in a special issue of Businessworld.
LAST DATE FOR ENTRIES: May 15, 2012

Transformation to sustainability is the biggest business challenge–and opportunity–in the history of capitalism. World population has grown 3 times in approximately 60 years. United Nations projects the world population to reach 10 billion by 2100! Most of the products currently developed are for the affluent 1 billion people and give very little attention to environmental issues. As we gear up to serve the needs of the several billion aspiring middle-classes and BoP customers, we are on a path that is environmentally unsustainable. If growth in consumption rates continues at its present pace, we could literally destroy the natural systems‚ soils, watersheds, fisheries, forests, and climate‚ that underpin all economic activity, and indeed, human existence.

MISSION

The mission of the Indian Institute for Sustainable Enterprise is to dramatically increase the number and success of intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs focused on socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable business development for the 21st century. We aim to make the Kanakpura campus in Bangalore the hub for these activities, along with field-based affiliates in India and partners around the world.

Click Here for their website

 A sponsorship by Canaan Partners to a business programme at Cambridge
A coveted mentorship from The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE)
A Lufthansa Business Class return ticket to a destination of your choice in Europe 

In the extremely successful Season 2, ten entrepreneurs like you were selected as ‘pioneers of tomorrow’ and received the invaluable benefit of a TiE mentorship as well as a free Business Class ticket.

You could be next.

Click Here to Register Now

The single biggest hurdle that entrepreneurs confront when they consider launching a new business is not knowing if their business idea is truly a good idea. Can they support themselves and their family? What are the chances of success – or failure ? Most people are not accountants, and struggle with understanding the principles behind financial forecasting. In such situations, the major mistake to be avoided is to assume that you will be successful and will somehow get through !  A sound business plan is one of the keys to success.

A sound Business Plan is always useful for self evaluation of your business. It may give you a yes / no signal, before you actually plunge in. It would highlight the pros and cons of your business and help you keep a watch on  your weaknesses. Besides, if you are looking for a partner or a financier, it is a good document to keep handy at all times.

One must keep in mind the following components of a good business plan :

• Executive  summary : This would be a quick summary of what you intend to do and how. What is your main business mission and what needs does it set out to fulfil ? It should give the reader a quick overview of your business model, the key financials, the marketing strategies, technology required, if applicable, etc. Ideally it should never exceed 2-3 pages. It should be lucidly written and should excite the reader and lead him on to read the full plan.
• Business description : This section of your business plan should describe in detail, all aspects of your business model. What are the revenue generators, the operations, the costs, the technology, the infrastructure, finance and admin requirements. This is the core component of your Business Plan.
• Market Analysis : Use this section to dissect the market and analyse it in depth. Know your industry’s average financial performance statistics. Make your market forecasts plausible and relevant to the current situation. A detailed review of the competition, what they are upto and how they are pricing similar products would help tremendously. Touch upon your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) and product differentiation so that you stand out from the crowd, and use this to generate better prices for your product or service.
• Financial Projections : Identify the selling price of your product / service in the market, know your costs, find out exactly how much you will pay to source or manufacture your product. Also, there would be several fixed costs which you will have to incur to run your business. List out such costs and how you intend to track and control them – this might be the key to your success in some cases. Your financial projections should also include your initial investments in fixed assets and infrastructure and how you would most likely finance the same. Whether you would take loans or take equity from a financial partner, if you would take loans, whether they would be secure or unsecure, at what cost would the loans be available, etc.
• Human Resources : What kind of people would you require to succeed ? Would you need partners ? Senior Executives ? Mentors ? WorkersHow many and when ? How much would they cost ?
• Scalability : What if you succeed and reach your peak as projected in the first 3 years ? Is your plan scalable ? What would it take to move up the ladder ? Additional resources ? Space ? People ?
• Plan B: What if your main plan fails – would  there be a fall back ? Would you continue to operate at a reduced level ? Would you outsource before you consider manufacturing again ? What are the costs of aborting the venture? Think about all this and document it in your business plan.

Remember, a business plan is not cast in stone. You should review it annually and change it according to the realities you face, to make it more effective and relevant. Also, it should be relatively confidential – it should not be available to all and sundry.

There are books and websites galore on the subject and you will have to wade  your way through, to get the right one. You may look up http://wzcc.net/bpc09_resources.asp or www.enterprisers.in for a variety of resources to make business plans, to start with.

So before you take the plunge, be sure to make a sound business plan. Remember – not planning to succeed is a sure plan for failure !

E-Series – Yazdi Tantra

We are a non-profit student organisation at IIT Kharagpur with the aim of fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship among college students in India. We are one of the most successful entrepreneurial organisations in the country with 28 start-ups incubated within 5 years of our inception.

We conduct our flagship event - Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) every year in January, and this is oneof the biggest entrepreneurial platforms for academicians, new-age entrepreneurs, eminent business personalities, venture capitalists and students to gather at one place and share their entrepreneurial endeavours and experiences, and to pledge to take entrepreneurship to greater scales. GES 2012 will be held from 13-15 January 2012 at IIT Kharagpur. More than 2000 students from various engineering colleges in India will be a part of this summit.

GES 2012 also plays host to the Global Entrepreneurship Conference in India. The conference aims to provide a platform where promotion of entrepreneurship could be discussed with a global perspective. It will feature a live video conference with foreign universities and US entrepreneurs to understand the entrepreneurial environmental in different nations.

We would like you to be part of GES 2012 and make good use of the resources and rich entrepreneurial environment to take entrepreneurship in India to new level

For more details on the summit, you can visit the site: www.ges.ecell-iitkgp.org

You can also visit E-Cell IIT Kharagpur’s site: www.ecell-iitkgp.org or like our FB page:www.facebook.com/ecell.iitkgp to know more about our yearlong activities.

Thank you,                                                                        

Magazine Partner:  Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur

Born with this motto, Ideate aims to discover the best ideas and innovations from across the nation that would reform and revolutionise the present day India.

Even though the tree of India has grown as the world’s second fastest developing economy, there are still certain branches that need attention. All India needs is an idea, a belief and a vision to spark a revolution. Ideate invites everyone to lend a helping hand to our very own society and improve the lives of millions. The secret of getting ahead is getting started. Let’s join hands and make an effort today for a better tomorrow.

After all, Everything begins with an idea !

Ideate – A journey from Idea to Execution

Get mentored by top investors and global entrepreneurs!

Compete with participants from India, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Melbourne, Sydney, Dubai, Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.

The Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Bombay in Association with Entrepreneur presents Eureka! 2011. Eureka! is the Asia’s largest business plan competition with total prizes worth USD 52,000. Top 50 teams get intensive mentoring by leading corporates, legal & financial consultancy and an online platform to get solutions to their queries.

Eureka! Social:
This year we are launching Eureka! Social, a new initiative to support Social Ventures. It’s a separate platform for social ventures with the same timeline, but judges, mentors and other resources will be dedicated to specially to Social Ventures. Top 3 winners will get direct entry  to semi-final round of Dell Social Innovation Competition organized jointly
by University of Texas and Dell, Incubation Opportunity at Villigro, UnLtd India and funding Opportunity at Grameen Creative Lab.

To register, visit: www.ecell.in/eureka
“You can submit any query regarding your b-plan just by tweeting to @ecell_iitb. Your query will then get answered by our expert panel of experienced entrepreneurs and VCs through our ‘Tweet-your-doubt’ campaign within a span of few days.
The Last Date for submission of Plans is 4th October, 2010.”

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have emerged as the backbone of the Indian economy. As a tribute to their achievements, Dun & Bradstreet and Axis Bank propose to felicitate leading SMEs of India for their invaluable contribution to our economy.

Business Gaurav SME Awards 2011 attempts to showcase the achievements of successful micro, small and medium enterprises from 12 SME-oriented sectors across the country. These are:

Click Here for more details
Last Date for receipt of Questionnaire is 7 October 2011

HATCHLINGS 2011 is an Entrepreneurship Competition amongst the Management students in your city aimed to promote new and innovative ideas of the youth so as to give them ground on how they want to contribute to the economy and/or the society at large.

There are 2 tracks from which the students can choose to register:
Social Venture         or        Commercial Venture

HATCHLINGS 2011 involves 3 rounds to select the Best HATCHLINGS, one from each of the tracks, which will be selected by an eminent panel of jury members from the Venture Capital industry.
The Best HATCHLING from each of the tracks will be awarded Rs. 1 Lac to help them get their ideas off the ground. Mentoring support to each the winning ventures will be given by DeConseil, Singapore

The Award money of Rs. 1Lac for the Best HATCHLINGS is sponsored by IndiaSocial Fund.

Click Here for more details