So here the journey begins.....

“ A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

As the SUV entered the gates of Indus University today, it was beaming bright ready to start its long and eventful  journey around the nation. So here started the beginning of the ambitious project Mentor on Road. The flag off event of the project Mentor on road was graced by the presence of many dignitaries like Dr S.B. Sharma, Executive President of Indus University which is the education partner, Mr P.R Joshi, Assistant Settlement Commissioner, Mr Shailesh Bhandari, Managing Director of Electrotherm which is the infrastructure partner, Mr Manish Vora, Senior President and Regional Business Head of Yes Bank which is the banking partner, Mr Shriram Singh, Senior Director of Reliance Wealth, Ms. Sangeeta Taneja from United States Commercial Services ( USCS ), Mr Shreyas Sheth, President of USIIC, Ahmedabad Chapter which is the international partner and Dr Shashi Tandon, Director of Indus University. Further the presence of an enthusiastic crowd consisting of faculties, students and budding entrepreneurs filled the air with an aura of excitement and enthusiasm.

Dr S.B Sharma lauded the vision behind mentor on road and remarked that there was a lot one could learn from the mammoth of this project. “ We are not efficient at many instances in our life but we do not accept it, so at times we should accept our weakness and work towards it” was the message that Mr Shriram Singh gave the students. As the event progressed all the dignitaries but seemed to echo one common message and reinforce one fact that how today it was of utmost importance to harness more SME’s in our nation and hence to mentor them in various domains like marketing, technology and finance where such firms faced the most problems. “ To make the Make in India concept a reality SME’s need to develop” was what Mr Manish Vora highlighted. Mr Shreyas Sheth correctly pointed out and advised the students to shun off the “chalta hai” attitude and work towards precision and perfection.

The Flag off of Mentor on Road

“As I traveled around the country on family trips I always came across budding entrepreneurs and SME’s in various clusters and it was then that I visualized this idea of a project mentoring the SME’s and start ups across the nation” with this i started to throw some light on the project. Make in India concept has invited a lot of criticism largely because people have not understood its true meaning. “ To be able to produce the 180 non oil goods that we currently import” is the main intent of Make in India. The crowd listened in rapt attention as I further highlighted that today some companies are achieving this goal and these companies are not huge corporates but they are SME’s hailing from small towns and cities and that if we persevere we too can make this possible. Highlighting the importance of regional linguistics would be another important objective as I meet the young crowd across the nation as the regional language and its existence is very important.

The project Mentor on Road then truly kicked off as  there was then an interactive mentoring session for budding entrepreneurs from Indus University. Mr Siddhant Doshi an engineering student dreamed to enter the still latent market of home automation in India but like most he was afraid if he could make it big or survive as today India is inundated with startups and if a startup bubble would build in India. “ A bubble forms and then it burst and then reforms” and today India in all forms has the correct ecosystem for startups with these words the dignitaries enthused Siddhant whose face seemed to gleam brightly on hearing these words. Future entrepreneurs like Miss Khiloni Patel and team who wish to build an application that enables one to choose tables and book seats in restaurants and Mr Jagdish Tarbundiya and Mr Saumil Dixit who have already built and tested the prototype of an air filter using Electrostatics Precipitator for Boiler, like most budding entrepreneurs were in the dilemma as to how they should give wings to their dreams further and venture in the market.  I informed them that Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba.com wishes to invest around 1 billion in Indian startups but still only a few have approached him so the market is ready but they need to be ready with their reports covering all details and meet such individuals who are ready to invest was the message that resonated loud and clear. Finally Mr Nisarg Shah who has already formed his company Global Techvision which offers IT Services, online marketing services & home automation software, was contemplating as to how he should expand further in the country. The sentiment that seemed to echo with this query was that “Quality is king” he should aim at providing the best quality services which will build his company name and then by identifying possible financing options he should expand.

As the event came to an end it marked the first step of the journey of a thousand mile that the project mentor on road was just about to embark upon. As the green flag unfurled in the hands of Mr P.R. Joshi and Dr S.B. Sharma it symbolised the start of an escapade, which like the colour green symbolises would bring growth and hope for the burgeoning SME’s across the nation. Thus started the journey of Mentor on Road with its first stop at the diamond capital of the world and the textile capital of India, Surat.