The journey of Coimbatore

The lush green grasses moved about swiftly as the fresh cold winds softly touched it by. The large windmills moved about round and forth with its momentum increasing along with the passing of the cold breeze. The air emanated a freshness which made our spirits anew. Thus with a renewed vigour we entered the city of Coimbatore. The two days at Coimbatore was indeed power packed in concurrence with the entrepreneurial zest of Coimbatore.

The first stint at Coimbatore began  at Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore. This interactive session saw the active participation of all and it was heartening to see many a young people among the participants. While our major deliberations were in the area of international market access and innovative approaches to Make in India many an interesting questions were asked and answered.As Coimbatore is emerging as a major manufacturing hub to give further impetus to this and to ensure that it outreaches to a greater audience Mentor on Road suggested that these companies should open offices overseas. These offices can then operate mainly for marketing purposes which will provide it a global access. The opportunities present today in the online sphere and the ways one can harness and leverage it for one's advantage were also discussed.

The next destination for us was the Gujarati Samaj of Coimbatore. The air of the room had a certain air of enthusiasm and bubbling energy level as there were a lot of youngsters among the participants. There were many an inspiring stories here like we had young boy of 17 who at the age of 14 had started an online grocery store and today his venture had become very successful. With this story we inspired many other youngsters who were about to take the reins of their family business as to how they could take their businesses online and leverage the benefits that it offers. “Reside in any part of the country or world but make sure to know perfectly your mother language” was a message that Mentor on Road gave the youngsters present there.

Post this interactive session our next pitstop was a session with the members of Business Network India (BNI) Coimbatore and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Ladies Organisation ( FICCI FLO). “The empowered women is powerful beyond measure and beautiful beyond description” this was vibe that was felt in the room as we interacted with women entrepreneurs who all had a passion which was almost contagious. The session saw a active Q&A session where many a pertinent questions were raised and answered. The importance of going online to upscale ones business was again highlighted here.

As the sky turned a crimson red heralding the end of the day,Mentor on Road continued their journey as we next moved to meet the members of Entrepreneurs organisation  (EO). EO is an elite organization which invites entrepreneurs whose business turnover is more than 100 crores. Further when we learnt that it was after a long time that all 25 members of EO, Coimbatore were present together to attend a session we were very humbled by the kind gesture.  The spirit of the room was truly one of enthusiasm and passion which seemed to reverberate from the souls of these entrepreneurs. The spirit of innovation which is a must for India to carve a niche, was rampant in the conference room for example imagine a scenario you enter an educational institution and you don’t know which way the office is. You look around, but there is not a soul to be seen. As you sweat under the sun and open your mobile phone to check GPS, SNAP!!! your mobile battery is dead. Argh!!! a nasty situation ain’t it, but then there is a robot staring at you in the entrance. You come near it and ask him the way to the office and it replies back to you in its robotic voice the complete direction. Now how cool is that. Now why am i telling you this story, well we met such a entrepreneur who has been importing robots from France. These robots are used in hotels, educational institutions, hospitals etc. Now, seeing the lucrative business this offers he is now planning to start manufacturing some components which is required for manufacturing these robots. As the evening matured many such interesting tales and business opportunities were discussed and heard.

The Robots

Thus, with this our journey at Coimbatore came to an end. Coimbatore taught us many lessons, the spirit of innovation and vast business opportunities present today being some of them. Thus with this learnings and dissemination of knowledge Mentor on Road carried the journey forward.