New entrepreneurs to showcase projects at IIT-M

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Ten teams, comprising students from premier educational institutes in India and abroad, are gearing up to showcase their pioneering socio-business projects at the finals of GENESIS 2011 scheduled for August 27th and 28th.

GENESIS is the socio-business entrepreneurship competition conducted by C-TIDES (Cell for Technology Innovation, Development and Entrepreneurship Support), which is part of IIT Madras, in association with the SIVA Group, said a press release.

Participants will be vying for the coveted GENESIS 2011 Winner’s Title at the 2-day event to be held at the IIT Madras campus, which includes total prize money of Rs. 4 lakhs and potential seed funding from angel investors, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who will be judging the commercial feasibility of projects.

The ten finalists, short-listed from eighty entries, will be presenting exciting socio-business plans on a variety of subjects including green/alternative energy, education, consumer awareness, environment conservation and household water purification.

“We, at SIVA Group, believe that challenging today will help us to shape tomorrow, and am delighted to see this ethos in reality through our association with IIT Madras aimed at nurturing original thinking and grooming intellectual youngsters into socially responsible entrepreneurs,” said P. Swaminathan, president, SIVA Group.

“The practical format of GENESIS, spread across 7 months, enables students to experience the real-time rigor and step-by-step process involved in translating generic ideas into commercially feasible business plans,” said Dr. Ashwin Mahalingam, faculty advisor, IIT Madras.

He added that a carefully-designed mentorship program, with industry professionals as dedicated mentors, also helps the finalists to mould and refine their projects in sync with the core objective.

GENESIS 2011 finalists are: 1) Amrit Enterprise 2) Edumile 3) Aquaregia 4) BAFF 5) Carbon India 6) Fishing Four 7) Tree Hier 8) We the Children 9) TEAM EFFERO 10) Safe Train.

Students from premier institutions such as IITs, IIMs, IIFT, BITS Pilani, TISS, JBIMS, Delhi School of Economics, LIBA, Stanford Global School of Business, London School of Economics and Political Science, and University of California, Berkeley, to name a few are part of the mentioned teams.

Winners will be felicitated during the GENESIS Summit (scheduled for Aug. 28th evening), which also includes a networking dinner where the participants will get a fantastic opportunity to engage with industry professionals.