The Confederation of Indian Industry, Southern Region, in association with BusinessLine, will hold the 7th edition of Emerging Entrepreneur Awards 2016 on March 24 in Hyderabad.

Interacting on the sidelines of a CII event here on Friday, CK Ranganathan, Chairman, CII SR Emerging Entrepreneur Awards 2016, said: “Entrepreneurship brings a sense of belongingness derived from doing one’s own thing and providing employment to many. It provides opportunity to create wealth and make the best of the economic environment.”

Ranganathan said: “India has the potential to be among the world’s leading economies by 2050. India’s economy can potentially gain significantly from the country’s characteristic features—a democratic open society, a strong technology base, unparalleled diversity, vibrant capital markets, an increasingly youthful population, a sizeable market of a large number of customers with vast unmet needs as well as an environment of full and free competition in the private sector.

The CII has initiated a framework to recognise first generation entrepreneurs with truly innovative business ideas. The first edition held in 2009-2010 received overwhelming response and since then in a short span of five editions has established itself firmly as an inspirational and aspirational award amongst the entrepreneurial community.

Through this initiative, CII and its members expect to handhold entrepreneurs and mentor them to scale up in their businesses.

Through these awards, CII had recognised entrepreneurs for their excellence in Concept & Excellence, Strategy & Scaling-up, Niche Market Initiative, and Entrepreneurship with a social face and more such unique practices, Ranganathan said. To be eligible for the award initiative, one has to be a first generation entrepreneur, truly innovative in an emerging business area. Should have minimum 3 years and maximum 10 years of sustainable business and a minimum of ₹5 crore turnover for the financial year. The company has to be registered with operations in South India. The CII SR is expecting around 300 nominations.

Earlier in the day, at a panel discussion on Entrepreneur 2.0 Innovation: Transforming Ideas to Business-2016, experts from various sectors, investors, ISB Dean shared their perspectives on entrepreneurship.

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