2021 and 2022 are said to be the years of Start-Up i.e. India has produced the maximum number of Unicorns in 2021 and are expected to double the number in 2022. Keeping up with the trend XLRI PGDM (GM) Organised a Virtual Conclave on 6th March 2022 ‘Ingenium – The Start-Up Conclave, This Conclave was started to give a platform to showcase the journey of the Start-Up. In its second Year the central theme of the Conclave was ‘XLerating Start-Ups to Unicorn’.

The Conclave started with an Inaugural Address byDean of Academics Professor A.K.Pani, XLRI Jamshedpur emphasizing on the need of the start-up and elaborating on the entrepreneurship program in XLRI. It was followed by the Chief Guest Address by on Start-ups: Its role for Indian Economic Growth and Future Road Map. He talks about how start-ups are benefiting the economy and the need of youth to have an entrepreneurial mindset. He also spoke about the potential opportunities which the young and new generation start-ups must tap in the foreseeable future. The necessity of innovation in startups for growth and sustainability, as well as the government's involvement in the start-up initiatives, were also emphasised.

Mr. Ankit Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, Dare2Compete, was the second speaker of the conclave and spoke about How to Be a Successful Entrepreneur and the Pillars of Entrepreneurship. He emphasised the significance of cultivating an entrepreneurial attitude before embarking on the journey of developing and scaling a fresh idea. He detailed his entrepreneurial career and offered advice on how taking accountability can add weight to your passion. He also talked about the right decision making process and identifying opportunities to venture independently.

It was then followed by a Keynote Address by Mr. Srihari Sikhakollu, CEO, eRemit Singapore on Transforming Remittances - eRemit Singapore Way with Commercial and Social Impact at Heart. He enlightened the forum about the remittances and the challenges that persist in this domain currently in India. He also touched upon the key factors which can help to scale up this sector. He further told how approaching the emotional and humanitarian aspects can work wonders for both individual as well as business growth. Further to add to the discussion was a lively questions and answers interaction between him and the audience.

The first half of the session came to an end with aPanel Discussion on Navigating the Challenges of an Emerging Ecosystem by Mr. Sandro Stephen, Vice President, Indian Angel Network, Mr. Rahul Singh, Program Manager VC Partnerships, Microsoft for Startups, Ms. Smita P Mishra, Founder, Fandoro Technologies, Ms. Aastha Grover, Head Start up India Hub, Invest India moderated by Prof. Rahul Kumar Shukla, Assistant Professor, XLRI Jamshedpur . The discussion was around various topics including the evolution of the current start-up ecosystem in India, and related aspects such as VC funding, and hurdles faced by entrepreneurship. Ms. Aastha elaborated upon the challenges the Indian startup ecosystem had faced and why we are lagging from other major developing and developed economies, but they presented a positive perspective that the Indian start-up ecosystem has grown multi-fold in the last 2 years much faster than other economies. The speakers also emphasized on the need that the upcoming start-ups should work on to solve the bigger issues, such as sustainability. Mr. Stephen pressed upon the fact that more start-ups must be working towards Net Zero and other commitments of India towards sustainability and COP 26. Ms. Smitaspoke about her journey and brought out the challenges she faced as a woman entrepreneur and advised that entrepreneurs devise their business model to serve the entire community in general, rather than going into niche right from beginning. Mr. Rahul enlightened about the key skills to approach and convert a possible VC funding and the platforms available to budding start-ups to seek the mentorship and financial assistance to scale up their business.

The second half of the session started with a Keynote Address by Ms. Harnoor Kaur, Co-Founder, Evage Ventures. She talked about the future of EV in India and discussed various regulatory compliances and the policies from the government including hydrogen fuels as alternatives of petrol and diesel. The issues as a start -up they faced during the digital marketing of the product.

It was followed by a Keynote Address by Mr. Maheshwer Peri, Founder & CEO, Careers360 on the topic: Ethics is No Longer an Option. He emphasised the need of ethics as the building block of start-ups and repercussions of it when there is a lack of it. It’s impact on the long term journey of the Start-up. He emphasised that only the business and organisation which are ethical in nature survive for a longer period. He shared many anecdotes from his life . Most importantly he discussed the current spikes in the education fees. And how it needs to come down.

Later, the session was followed by another Keynote Address Mr. Kush Mehra, CBO, PineLabs on Topic: The Revolution called Fintech and how this sunshine sector can boost your career. He talked about how failures actually are the stepping stones to success. He spoke in detail about his journey and shared multiple instances which shaped his next course of action while taking PineLabs to greater heights. He also gave his thoughts on what it takes to drive a business to success. He gave a lot of takeaways to the young and aspiring entrepreneurs from his life experiences.

The next session was a fireside chat moderated byRajeev Roy, Professor of Entrepreneurship, CEO XCEED, XLRI with Mr. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder, Naukri.com on the topic: Importance of Consumer Insights in Building Businesses. They discussed how consumer behaviour has changed in the current scenario leading to new start-ups and the importance of understanding consumer behaviour and its impact. He shared insights on how a business needs to read and pick all the insights from the consumer demands, the voice of the customer, and then work on the feasibility model to design the offerings considering all the trade off and maximize the profit.

The session continued with the next keynote address by Mr. Sharat Dhall, COO, Policybazar.com an alumnus of XLRI on how to build a start-up. He shared many anecdotes from his experience in diverse industries he has worked in and shared advice on ways to improve inclusion in the insurance sector along with extending the reach to the remotest of India. Also, being an alumnus himself, he shared his experiences of XL days.

It was followed by a session with by Mr. Vivek Sinha, COO, Unacademy, on Rethinking how India Learns - the Unacademy way discussing how education landscape has changed, how they have made it affordable by different modules of Unacademy. He spoke in detail about his professional journey, and entrepreneurial ventures including Buildzar, and the pivots in his career from construction industry to an edtech start-up. He enlightened us about how Unacademy takes care that the learners don’t miss out on the peer-to-peer learning as in the offline setting.

The last guest for the event was Mr. Sandeep Gupta, CO-founder & COO, Innovaccer for a fireside chat on Putting Innovation at the Heart of Healthcare. He spoke about the challenges of data analytics specifically for the research and how that led to the birth of Innovaccer. He shared how they pivot to become a leader in the Healthcare domain and how as an aggregator, Innovaccer has brought every stakeholder on one platform, and how it is contributing towards the control on cost of healthcare and is committed to promote sustainable pharmaceutical pricing. He pressed upon the importance of data security and how Innovaccer is taking the extra step forward to ensure it.

The Day concluded with a vote of thanks by the Placement Committee summarising the whole session.

The PGDM(GM) batch of 21' at XLRI, Jamshedpur conducted its first Start-up conclave - "Ingenium" on the 31st of October, 2020. The conclave focused on "The everchanging dimensions of the start-up ecosystems" and brought together many distinguished entrepreneurs to nurture entrepreneurial ideas in the students.

XLRI Director, Fr. P. Christie, gave the welcome address and appreciated the topic chosen for the conclave. "Promoting entrepreneurship is one of XLRI's goals, which finds its way in the curriculum in the form of certain courses and case studies" he added. He reminisced his conversation with former Indian President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who emphasized the importance of business students becoming job creators over job seekers. The Director stressed the importance of start-ups and B-schools forging a meaningful collaboration and talked about XLRI's start-up incubator XCEED - an initiative to promote and nurture entrepreneurship. The Director also urged the batch to identify new opportunities and contribute to building a progressive and responsible society.

The Keynote speaker, Mr. Rajesh Srivastava, a Corporate Trainer and Coach to Start-ups and former CEO of JK Helene Curtis, shared his perspective on the changing business rules. To stay relevant in the 21st century, where competition is invisible, indirect, and cross-industry, he advised start-ups to become their own competitors, disrupt and remake themselves and continuously seek new "Avatars".

The keynote address was followed by a panel discussion session on the topic "Digital innovation and future of digital marketing", which brought together Mr. Amit Chaudhary - the Co-Founder of Lenskart.com, Mr. Ranjeet Kumar - the CEO of Team Pumpkin who is also an XLRI PGDM(GM) alumni, Mr. Shobhit Saxena - the Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of ONN Bikes, and Professor Rajeev Roy from XLRI, who moderated the session, into an engaging conversation on digital marketing. The free-wheeling discussion delved deep into several topics, including - the reducing attention spans of consumers, the experience-seeking consumer, the increasing speed of execution, and the growing efficiency driven by digital technology. The panellists emphasized on "the direct-to-customer" channel of marketing, which has become the norm among start-ups and is increasingly driving big corporates' marketing efforts. The "start-up energy" in the discussion was enriching and fuelled the entrepreneurial ambitions in the business-students.

Mr. Naveen Khandelwal, the Chief Investment and strategy officer of Hero Future Energies and founder of Green Infra, and Ms. Tripti Shinghal Somani, Founder Womennovator, talked about the opportunities in the renewable sector available in India. They stressed on the required abilities and approach to work even in the unstructured environment during start-up stages.

The session was followed by an address from Dr. Arokiaswamy Velumani - the founder, chairman, and managing director of Thyrocare Technologies Ltd. He awed the audience with his unique take on life and business. He strongly urged the students to have a clutter-free brain and a fear-free heart. He motivated the students to increase the efforts, and appetite to become an entrepreneur. His rags to riches story inspired the students towards entrepreneurship, driving home the idea that life and business are a marathon race in which, according to him, we require to build stamina, patience, and perseverance.

The engaging talk was followed by another propelling session on the topic "Hurdle the Rates" by Mrs. Swati Bhargava, Co-Founder of Cashkaro and Earnkaro, in which she shared her entrepreneurial journey through idea inception, funding, operations, hiring, and the continued innovation in business. She enthused and encouraged students to seek opportunities and develop as budding entrepreneurs in delivering value to society.

Prof A. Kanagaraj, the Placement Chairperson for XLRI's flagship General Management program, summed-up the meeting by asking the students to take more risks, develop a can-do attitude, build the courage to face fear and failure, and continue life with energy. He invited start-ups and corporates to associate with the diverse and experienced talent offering of the batch through placements and live-project opportunities.

The placement committee General Secretary Ms. Twinkle Nebhani and Deputy General Secretary Mr. Soumen Das Roy thanked the speakers, students, faculty, the organisers Mr. Prateek Khanna and Ms. Ritika Ratna along with the whole organizing team for the event's success. They urged companies to collaborate with the XLRI PGDM(GM) batch for placements and projects.