Scope For Entrepreneurs Huge Amidst Changing Trends: Experts

Bhubaneswar: For aspiring entrepreneurs, the world provides a big platform to showcase their talent and adding value to society, experts said at the first ‘Mega Entrepreneurship Summit’ held at the SOA (Deemed to be University) here on Friday.

“There is scope for entrepreneurship in several fields including food industry and agriculture where you can survive in spite of the competition,” Prof. B.N.Thorat, Director of Institute of Chemical Technology, IOC, Bhubaneswar campus, said while addressing students, entrepreneurs and investors at the inauguration of the 3-day ‘e-Summit 19’ organized by the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Cell and Technology Business Incubator (TBI) of SOA’.

Thorat listed out four areas that offered huge opportunity for entrepreneurship, saying besides food industry and agriculture, religion, education and health care industry provided immense scope.

He said a complete revolution would take place in the food industry as India had the largest number of diabetics in the world where rice is the staple diet.

“All you need to do is to pick up the problems of the society and work on it to provide solutions. We need genetically modified or physically processed rice which will not build up the sugar level and provide the energy required at the same time,” he said adding India had huge potential which had remained untapped.

“You have to think of the available technology and find India-centric solutions,” Thorat said.

Stating that India could become a superpower if the youth contributed their worth, Thorat said “the fact that the service sector in the country dominated over the agrarian and manufacturing sectors indicated that we lack creativity.”

“India doesn’t need students who don’t think,” he said adding “instead of looking for jobs, be an employer yourself.”

“Though entrepreneurship is an arduous journey on an uncharted path, a team comprising people capable of doing different things can deliver,” he said.

SOA Vice-Chancellor Prof Amit Banerjee presided over the inauguration which was addressed by Satish Mohapatra, vice president (HR) of Siemens and Sanjay Kumar, vice president (Capability Building and Knowledge Management) at ITC Infotech; Dr DP Kar, convener of e-Summit 19 and Prof Anurag Satpathy, coordinator of TBI, also known as ‘SOACH’, spoke.

Speaking on the ‘Future of Work’, Mohapatra said the workforce trends today were reshaping the markets. “By 2025, India’s median age will rise but it’ll still be one of the youngest countries having the largest working population,” he said.

Stating that “jobs have to be created by all of us”, he said an idea paved the way for business while technology provided the platform. But it was in operation that problems surfaced.