The Hindu Business Line : ‘E Week’ meets to be strengthened

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb. 14 Encouraged by the response to Entrepreneurship Week India (E Week) 2008, which it initiated, the National Entrepreneurship Network plans to devote more resources to organising the event in the future.

The organisation also plans to brainstorm with young people and entrepreneurs on ways to make E Week India a truly open platform, said Ms Laura Parkin, Executive Director, National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN).

New initiatives

The idea is to facilitate maximum participation and “reach out beyond the converted.” This year, in keeping with its mandate to educate and support entrepreneurs, NEN is also planning several major new initiatives to directly support new young entrepreneurs, she added.

NEN, a not-for-profit initiative of the Wadhwani Foundation, has also chosen ‘go green’ as the theme for E Week India 2009. The theme is in keeping with the increasing relevance of sustainable development.

First held in 2007, E Week India has now become an integral part of what NEN does, Ms Parkin said. The most important objective of E Week, which is centred around academic institutions, is to get more people interested in entrepreneurship and create an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurship, she pointed out.

Student force

Students from the entrepreneurship cells of the 290-odd colleges that are members of NEN are the force behind E Week India, she stressed. And with their support, this year’s E Week India on the theme ‘connecting industry and academia’ notched up 2,500 events that involved 200,000 people across the country, she added.

Besides routine events such as campus lectures by entrepreneurs and business plan competitions, this year’s E Week India included fun elements such games-based events and street plays. Of course, all the events were intended to help people understand that entrepreneurship is “a set of skills and a way of thinking that cuts across boundaries,” she added.

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