TiECON Chandigarh opened its virtual doors with enthusiastic participation across the board. The inaugural day saw 10 events with 20+ speakers enlighten the 2000+ attendees on various aspects of entrepreneurship and the start up ecosystem.
The 3 day event was kickstarted by Mr. Rajat Agarwal, CEO-Invest Punjab with a grand keynote. The much anticipated address of Mr. Agarwal was welcomed by attendees as he shed light on various policy measures being undertaken by Punjab Government such as subsidy on loan interest, marketing tie-ups and ease of fund raising among many others.
The biggest news for all young entrepreneurs was the launch of Punjab Innovation Mission & Fund. The Punjab cabinet has paved the way for a professionally managed fund to give impetus to the start-up ecosystem in the state. Mr. Pramod Bhasin, Chairman-Clix Capital and Genpact Founder, will be the first chairperson of the Mission and manage it with support of an Asset Management Company. The total fund size is proposed to be Rs. 150 crores with Rs. 15 crores contribution from Punjab Government. The rest of the Rs 135 crores will be raised from HNIs and financial institutions.
The private fund with a professional approach will be on the lines of T-Hub by the State of Telangana, one of the most successful state supported initiatives. The foundation of the Punjab Innovation Mission will be Pollinator and Accelerator. The objective of the mission would be to encourage investment across sectors be it Agri-tech, Healthcare, Bio-tech, IT & ITES, AI and Gaming among others.
The TiECON event also saw an enlightening conversation between Ms. Archana Vohra, SMB Facebook India and Mr. Jyoti Kamal, Executive Editor-TV18 Broadcast. Ms. Vohra highlighted how under covid-19, Facebook platform has played an instrumental role in building women entrepreneurship in the country. Post pandemic, Instagram has recorded a 20% increase in online businesses run by female entrepreneurs. She said “I met the first woman who created an online store on Facebook and funded her way to an offline store”. Facebook, with a focus on women empowerment, is now planning to make smart phones accessible to more women.
According to Hirdesh Madan, President TiE Chandigarh “Globally TiE has launched TiE Women and in just a span of 1 year, we have mentored more than 2000 women entrepreneurs. TiE aims to connect all stakeholders of entrepreneurial ecosystem which include incubators, co-working spaces, Governments and start-ups”
Next TiECON sessions promise to be more exciting with a star line up of Mr. Eishvinder Ratra, MD-Accenture technology Japan, Mr. Mahadevan Gopalkrishnan, Director –Paynoeer, Dr. Wayne Brockbank, Professor at Ross School of Business (University of Michigan), Mr. Rajendra Srivastava, Dean-ISB and Mr. Kashish Mittal, Former IAS and Hindustani Classical Vocalist.
Logon to TiECON Chandigarh website www.tieconchd.com and learn from the industry stalwarts.
