Participants included students from Pilani, Pune and different educational institutions across the state, working Professionals, prominent faculty from IIM Calcutta and other b-schools, in-house students and even two people from the armed forces. As Laura Parkin, Executive Director, NEN noted, “The NEN IIMC Ascent’07 is a great example of how academia is equipping young people to make the most of opportunities today, by bringing together experts and students. We’re also delighted to see that this event has become a networking platform for the students of the different NEN members in Kolkata. Connecting these young people of different backgrounds is a critical step towards building a vibrant and supportive ecosystem for the next generation of entrepreneurs”

The focus was on understanding some of the typical issues and problems which any budding entrepreneur has to face while starting up. Sourcing of funds was the topic of the much admired session by Mr. Mahesh Murthy on ‘Entrepreneurship, Business Plans and Funding’. His informal and understated humour cut well with the audience as he talked about the trials and tribulations of an entrepreneur; motivation for the same; the option of secure jobs as against starting up. How to arrange for Venture Capitalists to fund the venture apart from leveraging their networking, and the criticality of having a superior product/service offering were the salient points pointed out in the session.

Adding glamour to the event was the talk by eminent adman, restaurateur, cigar maker and much more, Mr. Prahlad Kakkar who talked about the importance of following one’s innermost dreams and instinct with sincerity and dedication. His brand of humour and take on a wide variety of things made the session a major hit among all present.

Day two started off with a session on “Uncertain youth and the entrepreneurial mind” by Mr. Bikram Dasgupta, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur who joined HCL in its infancy and went on to found the Globsyn Group of Companies. The session began with Mr. Dasgupta presenting his book “Minds on Fire” to the Entrepreneurship Cell. He shared his experiences on how he became an entrepreneur and the major influences which shaped his thoughts, how he learnt from failures and to be innovative. He reiterated that performance is the best form of security in today’s world. He gave his views on how young people can become entrepreneurs by breaking the twilight zone & go ahead to realize their dream.

Sunday also saw Mr. Saumen Chakraborty, founder of Intelsys group, who saw it through the dotcom boom and bust, growth of outsourcing, e-governance/e-learning telling about the problems both professional and personal faced while making an entrepreneurial jump. The importance of a superior offering; a sound understanding of the market; the need for lean and calculated capital expenditure schedule; having realistic plans; and most of all getting the right human capital were the some of the key issues he highlighted in the discussion.

Marketing and creating a consciousness around one’s product/service is a key issue with most start-ups. Mr. Deap Ubhi of Burrp.com & Mr. Saumen Chakraborty who started the software product firm-Intelsys gave insights on creating the right marketing strategy in ‘Marketing for your Start-Up, how to create a Buzz about your Company’. This was followed by both entrepreneurs deliberating on some of the Key Issues/ challenges faced during starting-up which could be potential causes of failure.

The feedback from participants was very encouraging with all participants extremely appreciative of the learning they received. All in all, Ascent’07 provided ample opportunities for learning and interacting with the people who chose to do it their own way.

“This is a new initiative that we have started this year and the response has been amazing. This will be instrumental in establishing IIM Calcutta as the Entrepreneurship hub in the country.”, said Arijit Sen, member of the Entrepreneurship Cell.