Entrepreneurs from US and India to meet to promote entrepreneurship

Kolkata, Jan 8 (UNI) For the first time in the country, entrepreneurs, academics and policy makers of both the USA and India will meet together in the city next week to promote entrepreneurship in the country.

Initiated by the Kolkata Chapter of the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a global not-for profit organisation, the idea of the symposium to be held on January 14 and 15, will be to strike a synergy between academic ideas and entrepreneurship.

" The symposium, called 'Driving entrepreneurial Growth' will bring in successful entrepreneurs and policy makers from the US to educate our entrepreneurs and academics to translate the ideas of different centres of excellence into business action, " TiE Kolkata president Shoummo Acharya today said.

The aim of the initiative was to enable the country to produce far more number of entrepreneurs, he said.

It would also highlight the best practices that create a fertile environment for entrepreneurship and locally replicate some of the US entrepfreneurial successes.

US Assistant Secretary of Commerce, David Bahigian, will be in Kolkata to attend the symposium along with a delegation of American entrepreneurs and experts on the related area.

The local delegation would include representatives from leading academic institutions like IIT, Kharagpur, IIM, Kolkata and ISI besides West Bengal IT Minister Debesh Das, National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship H K Mittal and Department of Science and Industrial Research advisor A S Rao.

" These public-private dialogues, funded in part by the Kauffman Foundation and supported by in-country partners like TiE in Kolkata, would showcase positive microeconomic models, encourage small business, and focus on the fundamentals and mechanisms for establishing, managing and growing enterprises. Follow up activities swould include building relationships swith academic institutions.

Clustering, technology transfer and venture capital will be initiated after the programme, " Mr Acharia said.

He said 10-15 years ago the MIT, young entrepreneurs and the federal government came together with a similar move in the US. As a result of that today there were several successful ventures like Apple and Oracle.

About 50 entrepreneurs, policy makers and academics, including ten from the US, would participate in the symposium. The event would be followed by formation of a working group from among them who would take forward the ideas.

Speaking on the occasion, US Consul General in Kolkata Henry Victor Jardine said India's economic development and prosperity would be driven by the entrepreurial spirit of the local business community and the US Government wanted to help foster a climate of economic dynamism in the state and the region.

The programme was a part of a nbroader international initiative launched by the Kauffrman Foundation and ITA targeting Brazil, China, Europe, India, Mexico and Russia.

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