17 August 2019. Odisha: The first edition of Rising Bharat, an initiative for aspiring entrepreneurs, was held in Bhubaneswar on Saturday.
Organised by Boudhik Ventures®, Startupbuddy, Innowork and Start-up Odisha, Rising Bharat is a series of 20 such events held in tier-2 cities across the country. The purpose is to create knowledge about issues related to legal, compliance, IPR, marketing and funding among budding entrepreneurs. At the event in Bhubaneswar, five experts from different backgrounds interacted with young participants and answered their queries pertaining to entrepreneurship and innovations.
The chief guest, Rahul Dev, eminent journalist and former honorary advisor, SRI, exhorted grassroots innovators to dream big. “Start-ups are the major source for overall comprehensive development of India. It would help in economic development, especially leading to large innovations and bringing new localized products and services to the Indian masses,” he told the gathering. Dev also stressed on promoting local languages to help innovators express their ideas conveniently and fluently. “In order to encourage innovators, the languages of various places and tribes need to be promoted. Once people start communicating in their own languages, more innovate ideas would come up. Then, the real creative energies will be released,” he said.
“Till the time the start-up system and the whole economic industrial system remain confined to the English-speaking world, India will not reach its full potential. Every talent anywhere in the country, in any language, must get the best opportunities of space, promotion and support to grow to its fullest potential. Once that happens, true India would emerge.” Pointing out why most start-up fails, Dev cautioned: “Some start-ups are in a hurry. They don’t do enough research, they don’t invest time and effort to understand the market and fine-tune their products and acquire enough funding, which would enable them to sustain for a long time or long as it takes to establish themselves.”
At the same time, he added: “Failure is part life but one shouldn’t give up.”
Another speaker, Dhianu Das said, “Before starting your start-up, it is really important to first find a good mentor. A good mentor could guide you properly about things that need to be done before investing your precious money and time. Besides, finance is another important factor.” Startupbuddy founder Amit Singhal, Boudhik Ventures Co-founder and Director Vivek Dahiya, PeeSafe founder Vikas Bagaria, BlocSpaze founder Bibin Babu and Start TV vice president Shivani Singh also spoke on the occasion.
Rising Bharat next editions are planned in Nagpur, Patna, Goa, Jodhpur etc. for these cities startups.
