Sunday, August 16, 2009

Organizing the IIT Business plan Competition

I am currently organizing the Business Plan Competition at the Pan IIT Conference 2009. We are organizing the conference in two stages: regional rounds to be held in four major centers in the US, followed by finals at the Conference itself, on October 9th.

When I started organizing the competition, I suggested that we restrict entries to these four areas, and strictly to the US. However my incredibly passionate teammates persuaded me to open up the competition. I am glad we did. We have had an incredibly high number of entries coming from India.

While I cannot comment on any particulars due to the level of confidentiality we need to maintain, the one area that I am glad to see a lot of focus on is Education (especially in entries from India). Most of the ventures are for-profit, which is the right way to go when it comes to providing high-quality education in India. Another focus is health care, especially in entries from the United States.

Another thing that has surprised me is the sheer number of entries. I thought that IITians were entrepreneurial, but now I know truly how much passion and zeal current students and alumni have for entrepreneurship. I am proud to be part of this alumni base, and wish all participants the best of luck!

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