Choice of Project

1. Improving Entrepreneurship
and Innovation
2. International Collaborations

Reason for choosing this project is I myself been an

entrepreneur and my business Idea Right2Write was
selected for Top 50 Nen Start-up initiative by Nasscom. We
discontinued it due to non availability of proper mentoring
in Varanasi and secondly we werent able to raise funds
again due to location factor. Secondly I am aspiring venture
capitalist, I have previously interned with Grant Thornton
and Deloitte into transaction advisory. I have witnessed the
deal flow. In my second year I headed the Start-up Varanasi
in techno-management festival of IIT BHU. Two of start-ups
got incubated by U.P. government and seed fund of 1.5 lakh
each was provided. Under my guidance and leadership we
managed to bring in Vinod Dham to invest into start-ups.
Several boutique VC firms were also invited to be part of
the program. Hence I feel I have the perfect skill-set to take
this task and help Andhra Pradesh and entrepreneurs there
to succeed.

I would go about 10 different sessions across 10 different

cities in Andhra Pradesh to identify a set of 60 start-ups to
help them to connect with investors. Forutnately due to
Start-up Fair Technex I have been in constant touch with
seed fund VCs like Japan Vyas from Sixth Sense Ventures,
Ganesh Rangaswamy and Vansh from Indian Angel Fund. I
also fortunately know some of start-up co-founders Ankur
Singla Tapzo , Alok Bajpai from Ixigo and several other
entrepreneurs who are investing into early stage ventures.

To improve the start-up scene in colleges and universities I

would propose a 2 month extensive curriculum delivered by
diverse set of entrepreneurs who can prepare them for
initial failures. This extensive program can be weekend or
part time depending upon availability. It will cover basics
from how to raise funds, how to cope up stress , how to
manage personal funds and basics of go to market
strategies. This shall be delivered by eminent personalities
in start-up eco-system. I am also planning to organize
various government initiatives to students to encourage
them towards building their enterprise. I also wish to study
different strategy adopted across world for improving and
encouraging entrepreneurs and adopt best practices in AP. I
sincerely wish Vijaywada to be next Silicon Valley of India.

What according to you are the most

pressing challenges in the Higher
Education Sector in India today? If you
had Rs. 10 Crores and a period of one year
to tackle the most pressing challenge,
what would you do?

Our university system is, in many parts, in a state

of disrepair...In almost half the districts in the
country, higher education enrollments are abysmally
low, almost two-third of our universities and 90 per
cent of our colleges are rated as below average on
quality parameters... I am concerned that in many
states university appointments, including that of
vice-chancellors, have been politicised and have
become subject to caste and communal
considerations, there are complaints of favouritism
and corruption. Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh in 2007