Freshers’ Orientation – Egnition 2018

Dr. Sourabh Kr. Das(Principal)

Dr. Santanu Das(Director))

Prof. Supriyo Banerjee acquainting the freshers with the aims and agendas of the E-Cell

Prof. Md. Iqbal Qureshi instills the spark of entrepreneurship

Egnition 2018 was a freshers’ orientation programme directed to the sophomores of KGEC, conducted by KGEC E Cell. With a packed house of around 200 fresh faces of KGEC, it was a success in itself. Cutting back to the main highlights of the day, there were many interactive sessions such as those from myWBUT and the College’s very own startups – Originals

Revealing the latest designs and scopes for internships, Sourabh Bhattachrya – CEO of Originals

– and MinDWebs. There were also different engaging events such as the TechQuiz and Ad-Preneur – designed to keep the deciduous loss of interest of the audience, occasionally a yawn or two – in check.

Bikash Prajapati – Marketing Head of Originals and blogger at Foodplasm

Ankan Chattopadhyay with his introductory speech

The day started off with lighting of the lamp ensued by invaluable words of inspiration by the dignitaries – Prof. Md. Iqbal Qureshi(Treasurer), Prof. Supriyo Banerjee(Secretary) and Dr. Santanu Das(Director). Although our Principal, reverend Dr. Sourabh Kr. Das couldn’t attend the event due to some urgent business, his messages were conveyed to us by the other speakers and the smooth headway of the proceedings made his support felt each and every moment throughout the day. Up next was an introductory speech by Ankan Chattopadhyay, who apart breaking the ice also had the additional responsibility of hosting the proceedings of the day. Immediately in succession was the session by myWBUT by Mr. Nitish Singh & Ms. Bijurika Saha.

Team myWBUT is warmly welcomed

Ms. Bijurika Saha

Mr. Nitish Singh from myWBUT

Abhinav Ghosh from MinDWebs

Without going much into the technical aspects of entrepreneurship, Mr. Singh told the need for being an entrepreneur and risks associated with it. He talked about the importance of saving money even on days we have it in plenty. He threw light the importance of planning and even sacrificing a lot for entrepreneurship. Following this was a session with MinDWebs, where Abhinav Ghosh was the spokesperson who enlightened the house on internship opportunities in startups and research internships and also dictated means as to how the freshers could get their hands on them. These two brainstorming sessions led to recess. Half the day was done, with the more interesting half yet in the pipeline.

With a multitude of jobs in the IT sector and everyone listing coding as their passion, it is imperative to conduct a TechQuiz on the software and technology. Questions were prepared and the quiz was conducted by the quizzer duo – Ankan Chattopadhyay and Animesh Dutta, with Aniket Mondal as the scorer.

Quizmaster Animesh Dutta hosting the Tech Quiz

The Originals team gave a presentation on their famous bio-enzyme T-shirts and their lucrative offer of 100% cashback on their first purchase only for the students of KGEC. Finally, to the most exciting event of the day the Ad-Preneur, the teams were given a time of 2 minutes each for their live demonstration or an ad as we know it. It was a showcase for their marketing as well as acting skills with each team having to sell a really weird made-up product such as time machine, super-hero costume and the like. The team that sold a pickle named Bhrasht-achaar stood first with an encore, with Invisible Cloaks and Magic Mushrooms coming in as a close second and third respectively.

 

Team to acquire first position in Tech Quiz

Bhrasht-achar bearing away the award for the best product

The cell also conducted a question and answer session to collect the feedbacks of the attendees. Finally, the day ended with the prize distribution ceremony and a promise from the Joint Secretary (Abhranil Roy) and Additional Secretary (Raja Mishra) to come back bigger and better next time.

Abhranil Roy promising big

Raja Mishra with the last words of the day

All in all, it was a session well conducted with loads of students cutting across all years in attendance. It was a friendly, interactive event with both seniors and juniors getting to know each other and of course, main-streaming the idea of entrepreneurship. With a sudden spurt in the number of likes in Facebook and other social networking sites, there can be no doubt on the enthusiasm of the freshers in joining the E Cell. But what remains to be seen is the same passion and dedication in the later months, when tests are taken, interns are hired and appointed and grade points are evaluated. Like William Shakespeare said, “We can alas only hope!”

Written by-
Sanghamitra Biswas

Edited by-
Ankan Chattopadhyay

 

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Our Alumni

“When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.”  – Friedrich Nietzsche

The Entrepreneurship Cell of Kalyani Government Engineering College came into existence with the aim to promote start up culture among college students and help them find their true potential in the domain of entrepreneurship. KGEC E-Cell provides the structure, support and guidance to the students who are willing to utilize their ideas and passion for initiating new thinking. In the exciting enterprise of E-cell, the
contributions made by our alumni have been commendable.

 

In late 2014, the trio comprising Mr. Suvadeep Nandi Roy, Mr. Chandan Mukherjee and Mr. Aditya Roy Munka, three third year students of Kalyani Govt. Engineering College, founded the E-Cell in the college with 14-15 other pairs of hands in assistance. Mr. Chandan Mukherjee and Mr. Suvadeep Nandi Roy pioneered the bearing of the ensign of Joint Secretaries and Mr. Aditya Roy Munka, the manager of KGEC E-Cell. They were men on a mission. They initiated this never ending journey with the aim to do something new and beneficial for the college.

 

To address and acquaint the enthusiastic freshers with Entrepreneurship they organized various events, seminars and workshops. With the growth of E-Cell it was necessary for them to recruit new members. They conducted a screening test to select only the best and deserving candidates to shoulder the responsibilities of E-Cell. The assessment was not only to test their knowledge and intelligence but they also had to complete given tasks as an intern to prove their worth. In the fall of February of 2016, KGEC E-Cell organized its bellwether event, E-Summit 2016, which provided the students with a platform to express their ideas and also interact with quite a few corporate biggies present there to illuminate the stage with their knowledge, experiences and inspirations for students. E-Summit 2k16 opened new doors for their successors.

 

As the academic year 2015-16 drew to a close, the baton of mammoth responsibilities  passed on to the next Joint Secretaries Mr. Bajrang Saraf and Mr. SK Imran. Our alumni Mr. Prateek Paul was entitled to look into the department of Public Relationship and Sponsors for the events of E-Cell. With various institutions and organizations like IIM Kolkata, Dexterity Globals etc. and under other Government Programs they had organized many workshops and interactive sessions that would benefit the students. Their goal was to make E-Cell reachable in other colleges to encourage the entrepreneurship culture as whole. Egnition 2016 and E-Summit 2017 were two major events in that period. As a result of gaining hands-on experience at these, the skills and experience among then then members of E-Cell had amplified by leaps and bounds.

 

In the academic session of 2017-18, Mr. Somnath Sinha and Mr. Rahul Shaw were assigned with the responsibilities of Joint Secretaries of E-Cell. During their tenure, Mr. Rahul Das was appointed at the post of E-Cell’s Design and Multimedia head. All of them had been integral parts of E-Cell since almost the beginning of the journey. They had contributed a lot to the E-Cell, both as a member and as a head of respective domains. With their proficiency and the efficiency they had spearheaded the Cell to its new heights. It needs a special mention that in the first screening test of E-Cell, Mr. Somnath Sinha had come first. His decision making abilities, courage to make the impossible possible, experience and leadership qualities had played a huge part in making E-Cell what it is at present.

 

The objective of the aforementioned individuals had always been to provide the budding entrepreneurs a platform and guidance they require to successfully pursue their dreams with their innovative thinking. Under initiatives like Sankalp, they had organized various workshops on Web Development, Digital Marketing, Content Writing, Classes on Python, Designing etc. Events like Egnition and E-Summit continues to gather bounds of positive responses from students and faculty.

 

The contribution of our Alumni is what we reap the fruits of in the present day and would continue to do so in the days to come. Their toil shaped us and showed us the light to carry on this beautiful journey at KGEC, even when circumstances haven’t been desirable. They infused in us their verve and demeanor and thereby we feel the flame ablaze, the very flame our predecessors had set alight.

Written by-
Pushkal Guha Choudhury

Edited by-
Ankan Chattopadhyay

Engineering the Entrepreneur in KGEC-ians

OUR OBJECTIVES

Nowadays, most of the students of our college join a corporate sector (TCS, Amazon, IBM, etc.) to earn themselves a living. Clearly, the atmosphere at the office of a company is quite different from that at the classroom. Hence, it is of utmost importance that a KGEC-ian gets accustomed to corporate culture in his/her college days itself. This can be easily achieved if students engage themselves in various internship programs in these 4 years. KGEC E-Cell endeavours to help students in finding various internships and workshops in companies across different domains.

It is quite possible that a student of our college develops a thrilling idea in a particular field (machine learning, robotics, AI, or refrigeration) during the course of his curriculum. It is very decisive that the student gets an opportunity to work on his own idea, and discover more. Won’t it be too late if he completes his graduation first, and then moves on to research? Why not achieve that within these 4 years! Well, that is what Thomas Young, the great physicist did! KGEC E-Cell is there to make things plausible for aspiring students by providing him/her a platform where one can work on one’s own idea.

In today’s India, we all know that internships are crucial for engineering students. However, students find it difficult to get free internship programs, and often end up spending a hefty sum in the process! KGEC E-Cell is adamant to provide KGEC-ians with internships from various startup companies in and around Kolkata, for free.

“Opportunity knocks at every door, but once.”

Be it placements, internships, workshops, or training programs- engineers of India are always in dire need of opportunities. Sometimes, due to some inevitable circumstances one might be unable to utilize an opportunity. More than often, one ends up looking at the closed door than opening the other doors in life. KGEC E-Cell aims at showing the right path to the students of our college by providing them with various internships, training programs, and workshops from companies across different domains.

It has been already mentioned that KGEC-ians are bent on working on their own ideas. KGEC E-Cell avows to provide a platform to the students of KGEC where ideas in various fields can be shared regularly and effectively. Skills, both soft and hard, are truly decisive for an engineer to work in a corporate sector. Some of these skills required there aren’t included in our curriculum. It is the responsibility of the students themselves to acquire those skills in these 4 years. We have already launched the “SANKALP” program, where one can develop directed skills over a broad range of domains- Python, Digital Marketing, Designing & Photoshop, Web Development, Public Speaking, and Content Writing. We hope that with some active participation and enthusiasm from the student body, we’ll be able to achieve new heights in the very near future.

OUR PLANS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2018-19

1. At least 5 workshops in different domains: Going ahead with our free workshop programme called SANKALP by our alumnus, in the 2018-19 session we further plan to diversify our programme by including various workshops in different fields from different companies based in and around Kolkata. One such recently concluded workshop was the IOT workshop, conducted by MyWBUT.
2. Yearlong student-run classes for developing basic skills: In a country where 94% students are unemployable, developing basic skills is the need of the hour. Reshaping the set of skills we have is a must when it comes to landing a decent job. Keeping this in mind, there are various classes held by the members of E Cell on numerous topics such as content-writing, web development, public corporate relation, team management, group discussions, etc. to groom the students in soft skills.
3. Internship opportunities and placement opportunities: With the E Cell currently in talks with wide range of companies and building the “startup database”, the benefits of joining the E Cell becomes manifold. E Cell members might also get an edge over others because of direct access to contacts, along with special mock HR interviews and mock placement sessions.
4. Freshers’ orientation and a completely revamped E Summit: To grant opportunities to everyone in college, the E Cell has decided on an ‘Internship Fair’ in the days preceding the E Summit. The recruiters from various companies will try to hire potential candidates for various jobs.
5. Exposure tours to several IITs and IIMs: Tours to various IITs and IIMs will give the members of E Cell the much-needed expertise to know about the prevailing market scenario necessary in launching a start-up. Also interaction with associates of such esteemed institutes would not only provide a remarkable chance of becoming a part of a network but it might also give one the chance get together his/her own dream team to convert “blueprints” into “business” and become the next big name in the market.
   

Written by:
Sanghamitra Biswas
Saptarshi Ghosh

Edited by:
Ankan Chattopadhyay

KGEC E-Cell: Prize Distribution, Farewell and Felicitation and Investiture Ceremony 2017/18

“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” – Paulo Coelho

All good things come to an end, with a greater purpose. While holding on to our cherished memories, the KGEC E Cell organized a combined event, that comprised Prize Distribution, Felicitation and Farewell and Investiture Ceremonies, on the 18th of May, 2018. It was a confluence of old memories with the new, unbridled enthusiasm – seniors were bid adieu, while the new interns were sworn in into the fold of the organization.

The first order of business of the day was to induct fresh blood into the E Cell. All of the faculty members, such as Dr. Santanu Das(director of KGEC E-Cell), Prof. Md. Iqbal Qureshi, (treasurer) and Prof. Supriyo Banerjee (Secretary) were present. It was a really exciting prospect – interns finally turning into provisional members after months of hard labor, with Mr. Aniket Mondal bagging the prize for Best Intern. Next, the permanent members were called forth, one by one, and awarded for their commendable contributions to the E-Cell in the academic year 2017-18. Special care was taken to felicitate the Joint Secretaries too. As the Joint Secretaries Mr. Somnath Sinha and Mr. Rahul Shaw stood tall before the room, the E-Cell acknowledged receipt of their invaluable contributions over the tenure of three years of their membership. In his speech, Mr. Somnath Sinha, said “I was a part of this E-Cell from my second year and have learned a lot and developed myself by remaining in touch with various activities and some helpful seniors who thoroughly guided me in every step. Being a core team member, it has always been my pleasure to run the activities and working with you people as a team.” His bald head delineating the three years of his experience, he added, “When we are small, our elders put us under various restrictions, which we view as obstacles. But, ultimately it is the brakes of a car that allow it to run fast”, thus hinting at how the faculty members of the Cell were the main driving force. Accompanying them was Mr. Rahul Das, one of the three seniormost student members who had nurtured the cell since its germination. The proceedings remained witness to a display of indelible nostalgia as the moments were captured in Polaroid.

Mr. Somnath Sinha speaks and enthralls the audience for one last time

Now it was time to announce the office for the coming academic year, and Dr. Santanu Das was called upon to undertake the task of filling in the big shoes vacated by the sinews of the cell. First in line was Mr. Raja Mishra(Additional Secretary, Public Relation Head), followed by Mr. Abhranil Roy and Ms. Komal Singh(Joint Secretaries). Subsequently, the other members of the core committee such as Mr. Subham Baunthiyal (Design Head), Mr. Sarbesh Kr. Sarkar (Web Technical Head), Mr, Saurav Kumar Singh (Content and Internal Communication Head) were also called up. Standing next to them were the members of the auxiliary committee- the conveners (Mr. Bikash Prajapati, Mr. Kiran Kumar Das, Mr. Animesh Dutta and Mr. Ankan Chattopadhyay). It was a solemn moment for them – standing like guards in a sentinel. The investiture ceremony instilled a sense of responsibility and diligence among the new recruits and refreshed the joviality of the old ones.

The entire session was coordinated by Mr. Abhranil Roy with Mr. Ankan Chattopadhyay assisting him and Prof. Supriyo Banerjee and Prof. Md. Iqbal Qureshi at the forefront. They asked members from all domains to work as a team and laid down the following targets –

All outgoing members of the KGEC E-Cell Team with the faculty members( From L-R Mr, Rahul Das, Mr. Rahul Shaw, Mr. Somnath Sinha, Dr. Santanu Das, Prof. Supriyo Banerjee, Prof. Iqbal Qureshi)

• To establish an Incubation Center
• To provide exclusive internships to the E Cell team and groom other college students for the same.
• Increase coordination among different domains and reduction in time to get things done
• The signing of MOU with various colleges and universities(IIT Bombay)

The two hours that followed from 4PM – 6PM were reflective of the close bonds that had forged among the members. Mr. Somnath Sinha and Mr. Rahul Shaw (outgoing Joint Secretaries) turned up for the occasion with more than just words. They charted a future course for our times ahead. Prof. Supriyo Banerjee, being a teacher to Mr. Somnath Sinha praised him by saying that the latter was his Guru too and commended his decision-making abilities. Hereon, Prof. Supriyo Banerjee took a chance to focus on the authoritative skills and its importance to the newly formed team. He then shared, “When doing a certain work, even I could not make a decision at a certain place. Somnath would then take over the situation telling that the team has the strength to do that job within a deadline. So, in this regard, he is superior to me”. He also humorously added, “It will be another challenge to the new E-cell team that at a point where I will fumble, your work will be to make the right decision at the right place”.

Core Committee and Auxiliary Committee for the academic year 2018-19

As the day drew to a close, the KGEC E Cell collectively felt a great sense of loss at the departure of three iconic members of the E Cell – Mr Somnath Sinha, Mr Rahul Das and Mr Rahul Shaw, who had been an indispensable part from the Cell’s inception, paving all throughout its way. At the same time, the members knew that mammoth responsibilities were now vested on able shoulders and the years of hard work and effort of the predecessors had finally borne fruit. It was, finally, a day of bittersweet endings.

Authors:

Abir Bhattacharya, Suvro Mukherjee, Sanghamitra Biswas

Editor:

Ankan Chattopadhyay

Mr. Subham Baunthiyal felicitates Mr. Rahul Das

Mr. Aniket Mondal awarded the Best Intern by Dr. Santanu Das(director)

E-Summit 2018: A Journal

E Summit 2018 was a power-packed, business and entrepreneurship event hosted on the 6th and 7th of April, 2018.

It is the annual flagship event of Kalyani Government Engineering College’s  Entrepreneurship Cell. It was a unique event with sessions ranging from psychological wellness to Q&As with established entrepreneurs.

The vision of the E Cell is simple – to galvanize the youth to create jobs and incubate entrepreneurial spirit. With this simple mantra in mind, it hosted many activities like Buzz-In-The-Campus, Click-The-Summit , Biz-Quiz and of course, the Pitchathon.

 

Pre-Summit Events:

Here, participants saw various events which were held to promote entrepreneurial activities. One such session was with Mr. Biplab Poddar, CEO of Oxident Technologies, an alumnus of KGEC on Digital Marketing. Also, there was Egnition 2017 that resulted in a houseful session of around 200 freshmen.

 

 

6th April: Day 1 of E Summit

A sense of nervous anticipation in the air followed by frantic activities for last minute touch ups of unfinished stuff.  The first session was that by Caring Minds on psychological wellness. Besides, learning a lot of new phobias(some of the names are truly weird) and reasons for OCD participants also learned to keep themselves free from stress. Questions from the audience highlighted that a significant number of people suffer from stress and anxiety.The next was Biz-Quiz, a quiz on business topics. It got everyone excited and brought their inner Derek O’Brien to the fore. Participants had to form a team of two. It tested their knowledge of startups, famous entrepreneurs, and businesses. The next was an interactive session with Abhinaba Dey, Co-Founder of OpusNest and Somwrita Guha, founder of Papercup. Both of them shared their own experiences in developing their start-ups. Both of them agreed on hard work is the base for starting any business venture. That, coupled with the ability to take risks and being flexible was also necessary.

 

Someone from the audience asked, ” Is it difficult being an entrepreneur?”.

Somwrita replied, with a smile “Hailing from a typical Bengali middle-class family, entrepreneurship itself is deemed a stereotype. We are more comfortable being in the position of an employee, drawing a monthly salary rather than taking risks.” She then proceeded to say “Being an entrepreneur, I realized that money could multiply itself – My money could itself get more Money!”.

7th April: The final and most important day of E Summit

The day started off with sessions with Saurabh Dhanuka, founder and CEO at Jab We Ate and Ravi Ranjan, Entrepreneur Evangelist and Startup Expert.

Saurabh Dhanuka started off by saying a very basic human truth, that is, we all love to eat. We may not be gourmands in MasterChef, but we cannot refuse a plate of “maa ka haath ka khana”. That is the philosophy behind Jab We Ate, a company which specializes in home-made food and desserts. He shared his success story with us, right from sourcing ingredients till the logistics.

Ravi Ranjan proceeded to tell the stories of various startups in the $100 billion club and the reasons why they were different. He also encouraged us to venture into entrepreneurship and pointed out the various fields in which we could innovate. He exhorted us to find solutions to problems which could thereby change lives.

After a lunch break talks with Prantik Sinha, Co-Founder of Agastya Buoyant and Rana Dutta, CEO of Tiyo ensued. Both of them encouraged us to start innovating and make a meaningful difference in others’ lives.

The two-day event culminated with the Pitch-A-Thon – a business pitching session where teams pitched ideas that could potentially change our lives. It ranged from the incredibly futuristic plans of using AI in home automation, to the use of technology in ensuring women safety. Questions from the panel of judges tested the confidence of the participants and also the viability of their projects. Mostly, the judges based on their extensive knowledge gave an in-depth critique of how the startups would fare in the real world, with such diverse competition.

As the day came to a close, members and interns heaved a huge sigh of relief. Weeks of frayed nerves, anxious phone calls, and sky-high adrenaline levels had ended and it was time to say goodbye to the distinguished guests and students from other colleges. The day ended on a positive note with the judges handing out awards to the winners. Snippets of conversations from various enthusiastic attendees revealed that it was a wonderful event with lots of knowledge gained and memories made.

 

Reported By:
Sanghamitra Biswas
1st Year Intern, KGEC E-CELL

What changes do you wish to see in the Indian society?

The Preamble of the Indian Constitution proclaims the solemn resolution of the people of India to constitute the nation into a “Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic”. As an Indian, I’d like to see India just as envisaged by the framers of our Constitution.

Even after 70 years of independence, India is still a developing country. The main reason for this is unemployment. Certainly, it’s not possible for the Government to provide employment to 125 crore Indians. It is the responsibility of each and every Indian to earn a livelihood by fair means.

What India needs today is an intense scientific advancement. To accomplish this, more and more parents are providing their wards with a good education. Students are choosing science stream after 10th. Many of them are following the course of Engineering after 12th. Over the years, the no. of Engineers(both B.Tech and Polytechnic) in the Indian society has undergone a rise. It is no more possible for the Government as well as Industrialists to provide each and every one of them with jobs. Someone has rightfully said, “Engineers in India should not be job seekers, they should be job creators.” From here, the story of an Engineer-Entrepreneur begins. If an Engineer is able to startup, he’ll not only be able to solve the problem of his own unemployment, but also distribute employment to many. There are only a few notable startups in India at present times. I hope one day, there will be no unemployment problem in India, provided people can provide jobs to themselves through Entrepreneurship.

It is said that the development of a nation can be measured by taking a glance at the Olympics Medal Tally. The concept is odd to hear but is true. Although India has a huge population, India has been unable to achieve much success at the Olympics. It’ll be wrong to say that India doesn’t have a knack for sports. India has secured the first position in cricket since the Indian youth have worshiped cricket. My question is why only cricket? Why not football, hockey, polo, handball, gymnastics etc? If Indians get involved in sports, India can surely secure a good position in the Olympic Medal Tally. To divert the attention of Indians from Cricket to other sports, we have to promote those sports. Here comes the role of a sports entrepreneur. A sports entrepreneur will open sports hubs wherever he can, where different types of international sports like High Jump, Ice Hockey, Water Polo, etc will be taught. The raw talent can be sieved, who will glorify our nation at International Sports Events. The idea is the Industrialization of Sports will give rise to will give rise to immense employment in the country. The experienced sportsmen/sportswomen will coach the youth, and sieve the talent. In this process, 2 birds(unemployment and disappointing medal tally) will be killed with one stone( industrialization of sports).

Most of the electronic goods(mobile phones, TV sets, speakers, headphones, microwave ovens, laptops, watches, etc) that we use in day to day lives are not made in India. They are mainly imported from China. Had this items been manufactured in India, what would’ve been our employment statistics! There is a tremendous demand for mobile phones and computers in present-day India, as the nation has begun to enter the cyber age. Some of the brands do assemble in India, but that’s not a big step. However, India is not in a position to manufacture the components of these electronic gadgets, the reason being the high cost of implementation of the machines that are used to make those stuff. I believe that in the near future, India will have all the machinery to make the hi-tech electronic components, and will be able to manufacture electronic goods. In the process, the problem unemployment will be resolved to a great extent.

In present times, 70% of Indians are engaged in agronomy. Truly, it’s the most important field of India’s economy. Humans can not survive without food, and the production of the staple food has to be the most important topic in Indian economics. Imagine an Australian Farmer. What picture do you get? A well dressed stalwart man with a hat on his head, puffing cigar, driving a tractor or combined harvester, and earning a lot of money. On the other hand, imagine an Indian farmer. An emaciated man, striving on the land with a spade in the hot sun. His income is subtle. The producer of food is not getting enough to eat! We have to change this scenario, or the country won’t develop. For instance, a farmer is growing onions, and selling it to a broker at 5/- kg, who in turn sells it to a shopkeeper in the town at 20/- kg; the shopkeeper sells the onion to the customer at 40/- kg. The same happens in the case of other vegetables, paddy, wheat, corn etc. The ones who are in between the consumers are earning the most. Clearly, the one who has worked hard to grow that onion isn’t earning a justified sum. This system has to change.

In conclusion, I’ll say that India has come a long way in the run. Yet, a lot of things are happening in today’s India are unconstitutional. It is the responsibility of the upcoming generation to bring about a change. Jai Hind!

Written By:

Saptarshi Ghosh

Department of Mechanical Engineering

1st Year

Intern at KGEC E-Cell

Trailblazers #1: An interview with Mr. Biplab Poddar

 

Trailblazers is a series of interview sessions that are being done by KGEC E-Cell. We are interviewing college alumni or those still in college, who have found success in establishing their own startup or are intimately involved with one. The first one is with Mr. Biplab Poddar, a 2017 batch pass-out.

Biplab Poddar, an alumnus of KGEC, co-founder, and CEO of Oxedent Technologies, a digital marketing startup shared his views on how to become a successful entrepreneur.

Following are some of the excerpts:

Interviewer: What is the inspiration behind starting a digital marketing?

Biplab Poddar: I always had a dream to start a company of my own. I was looking for an opportunity to start. It is actually quite hard to start a company in Kolkata because the whole startup ecosystem in Kolkata is dead, with very few investors willing to listen to your idea. Three of us got together to start a company called planmetour.com but it failed. And that was the time I tried to figure out what I am good at. I found that most clients abroad were interested in digital marketing. As there was hardly any investment I thought that I could grow with my clients’ money.

I: Is there someone who you look up to?

BP: To be honest, I read a lot of entrepreneurial stories. I watched a lot of inspirational videos on YouTube about how people started from scratch and later went on to have a multibillionaire empire.

I: Is there someone in particular?

BP: In digital marketing segment there is a company called Techshoe, subsidiary of Indus Net, founded by Abhisekh Rungta. In a couple of years, the company grew to a valuation of 100crores. So I tried to study his methods about how he acquired clients and how he hire talent. As digital marketing is a brand new segment, so it is hard to find talent in a city like Kolkata. So now we have a client base comprising of 50 clients which is a new milestone for us.

I: What according to you does it take, to be a successful entrepreneur?

BP: You need to be able to take risks and the willingness to learn new things. Well, I had to learn a lot. I learned how to balance sheets, file returns, maintain accounts,  and appoint CA s. Also retaining and dealing with clients as well as employees. And you need to be able to deal with new problems each and every day.

I: How do you deal with deadlines?

BP: My start-up is a small one which provides digital services to small entrepreneurs and business to grow their businesses online. It is actually quite hard meeting deadlines with only four people. And so we had to sacrifice our sleep.

I: How many sleepless nights did you have?

BP(laughs): Many

I: So, how do you push yourself through these worst times?

BP: I read a lot of books. Currently, I am reading Zero to One. Books help me to escape into a different world. They help me to get through the bad times.

I: As a strategist, how would you guide your company in this fiercely competitive market in the future?

BP: The market will be as competitive as ever. But amidst all this, one still has to stay strong.  You need to find some unique USPs that you can provide to your clients that will maintain the level of work.

I: How do you deal with customers who aren’t satisfied with your work?

BP: I don’t give fake promises to my clients. I offer them free service even if they aren’t satisfied with my work.

I: If you were given a choice to further diversify your company, would you do that? If yes, how would you retain your core customer base?

BP: We are a services based company. So I am looking forward to developing apps for Android because the whole world is nowadays into mobile.

I: Last but not the least, are you hiring?

BP: As we are a services-based company, our main asset is our people. So I am definitely looking forward to hiring new people because they’ll bring in a lot of money.

 

KGEC E-Cell invites all your thoughts, comments and queries at kgececellenquiry@gmail.com