HYDERABAD: Hyderabad is in the grip of Ivanka-mania. For weeks, there was breathless media coverage about the Summit and as the 3-day event kicked off here on Tuesday, the excitement among delegates was palpable. “Entrepreneurship isn’t a fashionable trend, but a necessity for youngsters like us,” said Seyi Abolaji from Nigeria. The 34-year-old Stanford-graduate, whose venture makes and sells lemonade, hopes to raise and return with at least $500,000 in funding.
Four years ago, he started with an investment of $5 that now is delivering an annual sales of $1 milion, but Abolaji believes his business has more potential. “We are reinvesting all the revenue for the business to grow. We are going a big way selling our product with retailers and funding is now crucial,” he reasons.
24-year-old Sona Mahmody from Afghanistan agreed with the sentiment. Sona, who runs two ventures -- one a printing business, with her husband as a partner, and the other business trading dry fruits -- hopes the event helps her network with investors and partners. “I’m here to meet trading partners, and hear from people on how to successfully scale up the business,” she said adding that the startup culture and women entrepreneurship was beginning to be vibrant.
Another a 24-year-old women entrepreneur from Qatar, Fatima Ibrahim Alansari, said the event will help take her less-than a year-old startup -- Reading Experiences -- to the next level.
The first south-Asian edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), 2017, being organised by the Niti Aaayog kicked off here on Tuesday.
Over 1,000-odd delegates from across 150 countries took part in the 3-day event bearing the theme: Women first, prosperity for all.’ Over the course of the next two days, the event being held at the sprawling HICC in Gachibowli will see entrepreneurs from countries like the US, Afghanistan, Israeil, Nigeria, Australia and India to network with each other, pitch for funding, hear from venture capitalists on starting and running a business, avoiding failures or even failing better.
Investors, on their part, hope the event will boost business confidence. Vineet Rai, Managing Partner & CEO, Aaviskaar Venture Management Services, who is in the process of a closing a fund worth `1,600 crore, believes, GES will put spotlight on the evolving landscape of startups and entrepreneurship and the changing dynamics of the relationship between the Western nations and emerging economies like India.