FLAME Entrepreneurship Lab (FEL) is the university’s e-cell which promotes entrepreneurial spirit among the students of the university. FEL organizes several entrepreneurship events throughout the year to help students learn, connect and explore. Additionally, FEL has in place collaborations with organisations like the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN), TiE Pune, YourStory and Startup India.
Mantrapreneur, a two-day entrepreneurship summit is the flagship event of the FLAME Entrepreneurship Lab (FEL). The goal of the summit is to bring together bright entrepreneurs, students and startup enthusiasts to learn and connect through talks, workshops and a student startup fair.
Mantrepreneur 2017, was held at the lovely FLAME campus on the 3rd and 4th of March, 2017.
The talks and panel discussions involved over 25 founders and venture capitalists drawing upon their varied experiences and insights to inspire student entrepreneurs. Some of the speakers included Shriyans Bhandhari of Greensole (Social Entrepreneurship), Ishwar Sundararaman of Furdo, Akshaya Borkar of The Art and Craft Gallery, Rohini Unnikrishnan of Woohoodoodh, Razim Mohammad of Brownspell, Arman Verma of HelloDhobi, Krupalu Mehta of Parallax and Prabhat Hussain of Startup India.
The student startup fair and pitch battle was a competition amongst students pursuing undergraduate or graduate studies. It also included those who graduated in the last two years having a working prototype of their product/service. This was an incredible opportunity to showcase startup concepts as well as an opportunity to win prizes. Many entries were received with some amazing ideas, out of which eight were shortlisted.
The shortlisted participants set up stalls around Kalidas, to showcase their concept and market it. Additionally, two interactive workshops were organized to understand the practicality of the ideas. These were:
- The full cycle: Startup to scale up by Mr. Kunal Sarpal, Founder Partner of White Collar Legal LLP
- Entrepreneurial Mindset by Mr. Vikrant Bhujbalrao, 111startups.com
The two day summit was an enriching experience for students and aspiring entrepreneurs. It provided perspective about business and start-ups and how one can manage them.