Entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium enterprises turned up in large numbers to get mentoring on key business aspects at the SME CEO Knowledge Forum, organised by The Hindu Business Line here on Wednesday.

Businessmen and having operations in the field of technology, engineering, manufacturing and services in Gujarat, interacted with experts from marketing, human resource, taxation and finance fields.

While Sunil Parekh, strategic adviser to Zydus Cadila Group, addressed the questions faced by the entrepreneurs in the marketing space, TV Rao, adjunct professor at Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and chairman of TV Rao Learning Systems Pvt Ltd, mentored the businessmen about the men-management in an enterprise.

“In a short span of time, we have been able to address many issues faced by entrepreneurs,” said Parekh.

The presenter of the event, UTI Mutual Fund, showcased how finance and cash-flow management remains a challenge for the SMEs and how mutual funds can be used to make best use of the idle funds lying in the current account of the SMEs.

The one-day meet helped SMEs not only mould their existing operations towards more profitable, but also gave many of them lessons to nurture newer ideas. Gujarat has nearly four lakh registered and unregistered SMEs, employing 18 lakh people.

“There are myths about mutual funds that they are not liquid and involve high charges. But mutual funds are cost-efficient mode to manage the cash-flows and surplus fund in the current account. SMEs, just like large corporates, can earn interest in a short period from unused current account funds,” said Vikram Kapoor, channel head SME, UTI MF.

In his address, Kamal Dayani, Industries Commissioner, Gujarat Government, gave the entrepreneurs an insight in to the state government's increasing focus on small businesses and how Government machinery can be helpful in achieving growth in the challenging business scenario.

Addressing the challenges faced by the SMEs on the taxation front, officials from KPMG India interacted with entrepreneurs to resolve some of the basic myths prevailing in the SME space.

Accounting is key

Vishal Gada, partner, KPMG in India, said: “CEOs need to give due importance to accounting. They think it’s a child's play to manage accounts, but there is a requirement to make it more systematic by bringing technology.”

Air coolers maker Symphony Ltd ‘powered’ the event by showcasing the strength of air-cooling at workplace.

The conclave, held at The Pride Hotels, was supported by Assocham with associate partner LinguaNext.

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