Management Education Weds Entrepreneurship at S.P. Jain

Today, entrepreneurship is gaining critical mass as a viable career option with the GenNext in India. This is clearly reflected in the growing numbers of students at India's top Business Schools who are forgoing lucrative job opportunities to pursue their own entrepreneurship ventures. However, what holds back most would-be entrepreneurs is the "how do I get started" road block. To address this issue and many more the S.P. Jain institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai and the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) organised Lock, Stock and Trade (LST) 2008 at SPJIMR. Reflecting the growing stature of the event, this year LST attracted global participation from reputed international Business Schools like Thammasat University, Thailand and S.P. Jain Centre of Management, Dubai. In keeping with the entrepreneurial theme of the event the keynote speaker was none other than renowned entrepreneur, Captain G.R. Gopinath, Executive Chairman, Deccan Aviation.

Lock, Stock and Trade is a unique event due to a trinity of factors - The Mock IPO simulation concept (made available by Ms Laura Parkin, Executive Director, NEN), the real life investable businesses and the Business Analysts from the MBA program. These factors combine to provide budding entrepreneurs with a one-of-a-kind platform to understand entrepreneurship. Says Prof. M.S. Rao, Chairperson, Centre for Entrepreneurship, SPJIMR, "As an executive in a reputed company, you have HR to develop you, Finance to fund you, dealers to respect you and your boss to direct you. As an entrepreneur, you are HR, Finance, Salesperson and Boss, all rolled into one, which is very challenging. The Centre for Entrepreneurship at S.P. Jain helps you meet this challenge." LST 2008 aims to provide students with guidance from entrepreneurs and venture capitalists on how to anticipate business risks, handle professional and personal life and pull through all this with limited resources.

LST also showcases a wide range of business-worthy ideas, that go beyond the Silicon Valley inspired business proposals that are common today. The businesses presented at LST make not just sound financial sense, but also carry a deep social sensitivity. This was endorsed by Capt. Gopinath who said, " Businesses in India today have to obviously be profitable and scalable. But additionally they must also be inclusive – both demographically and geographically. This is why I did not build just a "Bombay-Delhi" airline. India lives in its small towns and villages."

Via 'Lock, Stock and Trade', S.P. Jain and the NEN hope to provide the India of tomorrow with visionaries and leaders who can transform the developmental landscape of India. The synergy between the entrepreneurial spirit and the future of India was aptly summed up by Capt. Gopinath when he said, " Dare to dream, but dare to begin as well. It is not enough to just dream. It is the courage to realise this dream that will take India into the Golden Age that awaits it."

In the later part of the day, there was an intellectual panel discussion on the topic, "From Idea to IPO" peppered by an eminent group of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and corporates such as Mr.Devand Neralla (MCX), Mr.Jinesh Shah (Nexus India), Mr.Ajay Kapur (SIDBI ventures), Mahesh Choudahry (Microqual) and Mr.Namit Malhotra(Prime Focus) and was moderated by Ms.Priya Srinivasan.

LST winners were the joint team of SPJIMR & Hindustan Tin Works Ltd while the team from Thammarsat BSchool, Thailand won the jury's special award.