Rendezvous@ Wine Capital of India - Nashik

“The success of young entrepreneurs will be the key to India’s transformation in the new millennium”- Dhirubhai Ambani

After having a sumptuous Misal breakfast in the holy city of Nashik,  our team was fuelled up to spend a power packed day there. The day started off by visiting two very important academic institutes namely Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management and BVK College of Commerce. “New ideas, bubbling energy levels, exuding enthusiasm and a positive outlook for tomorrow” these were the myriad of experiences we had after interacting with the students and faculties of these institutions. To harness the ideas and help the student community to give fuel to their dreams, Mentor on Road will set up innovation centers in these institutions. Further as Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management has special expertise in operations management it was decided to promote industry academia project pertaining to the area of efficient energy utilization particularly for the SME’s of Nashik. The major objective we had behind this was to bridge the gap between the industry and the academic institutions and to make our graduates ready to be absorbed in the job market.

Mentor on Road visits Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management and BVK College of Commerce

We then visited the Nashik Engineering Cluster where we got a first hand opportunity to see how Nashik is changing in the current times and how it is steadily paving a path for itself towards economic development. Post this we meet a dynamic individual Mr Santosh,Vice President of  Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce who owns Reliance Electronics, a SME that produces metal detectors. Mr. Santosh has today expanded in different verticals like garments. The enthusiasm he had was almost infectious and through him we got a sneak peek into the entrepreneurial spirit which the people of Nashik have within them.

Team Mentor on Road at Nashik Engineering Cluster

Mr. Santosh, Vice President of Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce and owner of Reliance Electronics, Nashik

As the sun started to mature and shine at its best our journey continued and we next headed towards The Institution of Engineers (India) to address the seminar on What is Make in India? Here we had an interactive SME meet with the members of Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce. A very pertinent issue which came up here was regarding the taxation structure. It was brought to our notice that metal detectors which are imported in India do not attract any import duty or VAT but the ones manufactured in India have to pay excise and sales tax.Due to such norms the concept of Make in India would face much hindrances was what was highlighted. After this thought provoking session we next headed to Young Entrepreneurs Society, where we met a lot of startups who had this zeal and enthusiasm which was almost contagious. What was heartening to know  was the fact that a lot of these startups were working in areas involving food processing as Nashik is an agricultural belt. There were a lot of suggestions made as to how they could utilise the huge agricultural potential that Nashik has and the prominent among these was that a Food Development Center should be established by the state government which should be used for innovative projects like developing chocolate from nagli (Ragi). This interaction ended on a high and gave us a positive outlook for tomorrow seeing the young guns of Nashik vehemently following their entrepreneurial dreams. Realising the fact that we must put feathers on the wings of these enthusiastic entrepreneurs we then had a conversation with Miss Devyani Farande, the MLA of Nashik and informed her regarding the requirement of a food development center in Nashik and she provided us the encouragement that she would work towards that end.

Seminar on What is Make in India?, Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Nashik

Miss Devyani Farande, the MLA of Nashik

As the day progressed further and the sky turned crimson we next proceeded to meet the members of  Gujarati Samaj of Nashik where we informed them regarding the importance of regional linguistic and that the younger generation must be well versed in it. We also encouraged them to involve in more CSR activity for the community at large and finally we had an interactive session where we advised the young generation who would sooner or later take over the reins of their family business to take their businesses online as online is the biggest market and will continue to be for a long time in the coming days.

Team Mentor on Road meets Gujarati Samaj of Nashik

Finally as the day came to an end there was much that we learnt from the beautiful, entrepreneurial, vibrant and holy city of Nashik. Nashik filled us with a positive outlook seeing the young generation aspire, strive and achieve their goals in areas like food processing which is indomitable for the future economic development of India. Hence, with this positivity we finally bid adieu to the city of Nashik as we then moved to the cultural capital of Maharashtra Pune.