The Bhubaneswar Road to Entrepreneurship Summit was inaugurated by Prafulla Samal, Minister, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Women and Child Development, Government of Odisha.
Making his inaugural address he stated, "The Government of Odisha is ready to provide proactive support to startups in the state. We are keen to support the women entrepreneurs in the state in every possible way. The state government is trying to bring all women, irrespective of their socio-economic class, caste, creed and religion, in Odisha, into the fold of Self Help Group (SHG) mechanism by 2018. We have even signed an MoU with Facebook to assist our women in digital marketing of their quality products not only in state but also worldwide."
Badri Narayan Patra, Minister, School and Mass Education, Science and Technology delivered his Special Address - "S&T ministry is committed to creating a conducive environment for startups with the creation of workshops, seminars and incubation cells."
Giving a welcome address at the inaugural session, Nirankar Saxena, Assistant Secretary General and Head Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation - FICCI said, "FICCI has been working with the governments, developmental agencies and academia to provide incubation, acceleration, scale up, mentoring and networking support for more than a decade. We strongly feel the need to replicate these successful programs in the state of Odisha to nurture and create unicorns of Odisha."
"The initiatives of the Government to support startups are yielding encouraging results. For instance, more than 2 dozen startups from Odisha will be joining the main GES Summit at Hyderabad. MSME department has 24 incubation centres out of which 5 are being supported by MSME Department," added L. N. Gupta, Additional Chief Secretary, MSME Department, Government of Odisha.
Odisha Television Network Director Jagi Mangat Panda, the leading woman entrepreneur of the state, said, "The most important part of women empowerment is to create an entrepreneurial culture which can only happen if issues concerning women are addressed at the grassroots level. There are gender biases and stereotypes that are so deeply entrenched in our society that a simple passage of a law will not be able to take care of it, rather some extraordinary efforts have to be taken."
With the focus on women entrepreneurship and gender equality, FICCI partnered with NITI Aayog to organise five interactive entrepreneurial events as a part of "Road to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) Series". These events brought together industry leaders, start-ups, serial entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors as well as enablers of the innovation ecosystem such as government, international agencies and industry associations not only from India but across the globe.
The stakeholders deliberated on several aspects related to start-ups such as finance, investment, mentoring and human capital. These events showcased success stories, social impact and also the gaps to be filled to ensure that women entrepreneurs are successful in fulfilling their dreams and ambitions.
Touching on various important subjects, the summit sessions included topics like "empowering women entrepreneurs-empower, engage and elevate" and "challenges, success and opportunities for women entrepreneurs in Tier II cities".
A special session was focused on pitches from start-ups to give impetus to women entrepreneurs. The winner received two gold tickets and one silver ticket to the main GES event in Hyderabad between November 28 and 30. During the pitching, two startups from Odisha got a commitment of investment from the investors.
In partnership with the Government of the United States of America, NITI Aayog is hosting the eighth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in India from November 28-30, 2017. The Summit will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The US delegation will be led by Ivanka Trump, Advisor to President Donald Trump.
Since the inception of GES in 2010, it has travelled across the world from Washington D.C. to Istanbul, Dubai, Marrakech, Nairobi, Kuala Lumpur, Silicon Valley, and now finally Hyderabad.
This year is the first time GES will be hosted in South Asia, and the event will highlight India's enabling environment for innovation and entrepreneurship - including actions by the government to increase the ease of doing business, eliminating unnecessary regulations and supporting start-ups.
At GES 2017, over 1500 attendees, including entrepreneurs, investors, educators, government officials, and business representatives will represent the full measure of entrepreneurial talent from diverse backgrounds across our nation and the world. Through networking, mentoring and workshops, the GES seeks to empower entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas, build partnerships, secure funding, and create innovative products and services that will transform societies for better tomorrow.
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