BHUBANESWAR: Budding entrepreneurs and founder of startups must equip themselves with education and knowledge to take forward their ideas to the next level, opined experts here on Friday. Addressing the Odisha State Conclave 2022 on the theme, ‘Building the next unicorn...taking Indian startups to global shores’ organised by Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) in collaboration with the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) Bhubaneswar, they said startups that are sustainable, solve problems and create value for the society will succeed.
“Goal of a startup should be to become a successful and sustainable business and company rather than be a unicorn,” said State Electronics and IT Secretary Manoj Kumar Mishra. Many startups have become unicorns. However, how many of them have survived is important, he said. Mishra asked young entrepreneurs to work on things they believe in and ideas that solve problems and create value for the society. “Companies and start ups must create value, rather than opting for their valuation,”he opined.
ESC Eastern Committee chairman and Batoi CEO Ashwini Kumar Rath in his address said the conclave will promote and strengthen start up culture in the country, recognising the best among them.
Around 31 budding entrepreneurs, shortlisted by the council, presented their ideas before a panel during the conclave. Rath said some of the start ups, after their final shortlisting, will attend a national summit.
Around 200 startups from different states will participate in the national summit and around 40 shortlisted among them will take part in the final summit in the USA, he said.
“It will be a rich experience for the Indian participants to meet creators of unicorns, investors, VCs there,” he said. STPI Odisha director Manas Panda said the initiative will help nurture startups.
Organisers said the pioneering effort of ESC and STPI is being supported by the Ministry of Electronics and IT and the Department of Commerce.