“You see things and say ‘why’? But I dream things that never were and say ‘why not’?” – George Bernard Shaw

Entrepreneurship is about transforming dreams of extraordinary men and women to value for the society at large. India has produced great entrepreneurs, from Dhriubhai Ambani (Reliance), Narayan Murthy (Infosys), Sunil Mittal (Bharti) and Tulsi Tanti (Suzlon) among others. There is a long list of self-made Indian entrepreneurs in the Forbes’ list of the world’s wealthiest. However, what is more significant is the rise of new entrepreneurs in India with each passing year.

It is no secret that new Internet start-ups like Flipkart, Makemytrip on one hand, and entrepreneurs like Devi Prasad Shetty on the other hand, are creating new market opportunities as well as solving critical social issues that India faces today. As India struggles to maintain its growth momentum, entrepreneurship can not only open doors to help fulfill dreams, but also transmute young Indians to become job creators rather than mere job seekers. A flourishing young business is not only a source of profit to its owners but also a source of employment to its employees and value to the customers and country at large.

Having said that, starting a business in India still has significant challenges, such as availability of funds at various stages of growth, bureaucracy, dealing with large number of regulators often leading to corruption, availability of rightly skilled employees who are willing to work in an entrepreneurial environment, and structuring a business idea into a viable business venture. This is the opportunity that large number of angels, incubators and pioneering institutions like FIIB see in India by being at the forefront of creating and supporting the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem.

FIIB (Fortune Institute of International Business) (http://fiib.edu.in/ ), a premier business management institution based in New Delhi aims to be a global center of excellence in management education. With its focus on sustainable business education for every generation, FIIB is especially committed to the cause of supporting and nurturing young leaders, entrepreneurs of India. FIIBs efforts have been appreciated by all stakeholders and that has helped position the institution to be consistently in the top 50 b-schools of India (Business India, The Week, Competition Success Review rankings of 2012).

Since FIIB strongly believes that entrepreneurship is a key driver of equitable economic growth, and that has immense potential of generating employment opportunities for sustaining India’s growth profile – FIIB aligns and integrates entrepreneurship with management education to help its students pursue their entrepreneurial dreams early in their career. In line with this aim, FIIB’s curriculum has a variety of innovative courses like Introduction to Business Ecosystem, Innovation Management, and Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital, among others.

Further to contributing the cause of nurturing entrepreneurship, FIIB initiated a unique platform called “Meraki” in 2012. Under the Meraki platform, FIIB students organize a pan-India Business Plan competition for graduate and post-graduate students across India where entrepreneurial ideas face a litmus test in front of angel, venture capital investors as well as successful entrepreneurs. After a highly competitive and feedback oriented process of business plan evaluation, winners are awarded entrepreneurship fellowships to help seed and support their ideas. Meraki through its annual entrepreneurship summit also offers an opportunity for young entrepreneurs across India to get exposed to best practices for idea creation and realization by interacting with thought leaders (investors and entrepreneurs).

In its first edition, Meraki 2012, students from institutions like IIT’s, IIM’s, top Delhi/Mumbai Universities colleges, other top institutions like IMT, MDI, BITS Pilani etc. participated in the national business plan competition. Top winners of the competition included an innovative business idea of producing cheaper power from bio-mass (IIM Bangalore) as well a highly profitable jewelry design business that employs victims of human trafficking as its employees (NITIE Mumbai).

Meraki 2013 (www.fiib.edu.in/meraki) scheduled for 15th, 16th March 2013 is designed to top the great start from the previous year. With 50% increase in fellowship awards from last year, this event promises to expose young entrepreneurs of India to a real life learning experience and in helping realize their dreams. At FIIB, we are hopeful that the many pioneers of India’s entrepreneurial success are born and nurtured at Meraki.

Note: This is a sponsored article and has NOT been written by the PaGaLGuY Editorial Team. It is intended from an informational perspective only and it is upto the readers to research and verify the claims and judgements in the article before reaching a conclusion.