EDII-DST Funded FDP on Entrepreneurship for Faculty Mentors at Amrita

Amrita Centre for Entrepreneurship (ACE) organized a two-week Faculty Development Program (FDP) on Entrepreneurship at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore campus, from December 9-21, 2019. The program was sponsored by the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Department of Science & Technology (DST), GoI and EDI India, Ahmedabad.

The FDP was attended by twenty-eight faculty members from science and technology institutions. These sessions were powered by 12 CEOs and Managing Directors, apart from senior mentors running entrepreneurship courses. In addition, the FDP participants also went out on three field visits for practical exposure. All this provided a platform for them to understand the nuances of entrepreneurship development and network with real-time entrepreneurs.

The FDP participants included a whole range of faculty members, belonging to various institutions. There were several senior attendees comprising Directors, Principals, Professors, Associate Professors and Assistant Professors apart from a few in the category of consultant, freelance trainer, technical faculty, lecturer and lab assistant. They belonged to the following institutions: Christ the King Polytechnic College, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan College of Engineering, Government Industrial Training Institute, Guruvayurappan Institute of Management, Happy Valley Business School, Joseph Arts and Science College, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, KSR Institute for Engineering and Technology, Mother Teresa Women’s University Research and Extension Centre, Nehru College of Management, and Vel Tech Multitech Dr. RR Dr. SR Engineering College, in addition to Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

Dr. J. Mohanasundari Managing Director, Sharp Electrodes and Kayjay Sharp Trendys inaugurated the FDP with her inspiring speech as the chief guest, where she also spoke about the charms of becoming an entrepreneur. The line-up of knowledgeable external resource persons from various organizations included the following: by Rtn. A. Somasundaram, Chairman, Essilor Shankar & Co. Optics (P) Ltd.; Ms. B. Kayalvizhi, Asst. Director, Branch MSME Development Institute; Prof. R. Krishna Kumar, HOD – International Business & ED Cell In Charge, PSG College of Arts & Science; Mr. V. S. Sukumaran, Sr. Consultant and Former Sr. Faculty, EDI India; Dr. G. Sivaramakrishnan, Expert Panel Member, Best Known Methods & Solutions; Dr. LS Ganesh, Professor, IIT-Madras; Mr. K Balaraju, Founder-CEO, BodhBridge; Mr. P. N. Raghavan, Managing Partner, Amar Metering Pumps; Dr. K. Suresh Kumar, Executive Director, PSG – STEP; Mr. A.R. Muralidharan, Director – Atlaz Business Solutions and Principal, CapHelp LLP; Mr. N. Sridhar, Managing Partner, Innovatus Systems; Mr. Albert Jermi, Manager, SIDBI; Mr. Sivakumar Palaniappan, Founder and Chief Mentor, Mastering Mind Academy; Mr. Hariharan Sonaimuthu, Founder & CEO, NoothukuMuttai and The Shake Studio; Ms. Sindhu Kalyanasundaram, Founder and Chief Mentor, Ignite Akademi; Mr. Krishna, Founder Director, AskKrishna Centre for Mindfulness; and Mr. R.P. Ramanathan, Chief – Legal, MetaYage IP Strategy Consulting.

Apart from the above external experts, the resource persons for the FDP from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham included the following: Dr. S. Balamurugan, Chairperson & Professor – EEE Dept. School of Engineering, and President, Institution Innovation Council (IIC); and the following faculty members from Corporate & Industry Relations (CIR) Department of Amrita: Wg. Cdr. Dr. A. Balachandran, Dy. Director – Corporate Relations; Dr. Madhu Menon, Head – L&D (All Programs); Dr. R. Sunitha Kumari, Dy. Manager – L&D and Mr. R. Krishnan, Head – Entrepreneurship Development, Amrita Centre for Entrepreneurship (ACE) and Convener, IIC.

The success of the FDP may be gleaned from the feedback of the participants, wherein 93% of the faculty members found the program to be very much useful, 93% also confirmed the fulfilment of their expectations, and 97% said the planning of the program was very good or excellent. 93% participants also expressed that the duration of the FDP was adequate.

Specific feedback from participants on how they felt benefited from the FDP is given below:

“1. Gave more knowledge on Entrepreneurship. 2. This program enables me to create more number of entrepreneurs from my institution. 3 Certificate is beneficial for career”.- B.R. Manoj Kumar, Asst. Professor, Nehru Group of Institutions.
“All the sessions are interactive and useful. I got Many ideas and innovations about Entrepreneurship during these days”.- K. Anandan, Asst. Professor, Nehru College of Management.
“It gives us insights regarding start-ups, and also motivated towards entrepreneurial ventures… Clarity with regard to patents, copyright, etc. The major plus point is the interaction level of the guest speakers. College’s hospitality is highly appreciable. We look forward for such wonderful sessions”.- S. Sreeja, Asst. Professor, Nehru College of Arts & Science.
“This program was very informative. Got new insights about Entrepreneurship”. – M. Saranya, Asst. Professor, Nehru College of Management.
“The period of 15 days seems to be very interesting and got lot of knowledge about entrepreneurship and ways to mentor students to achieve their dream. Resource persons of different specialisation gave lot of ideas and shared their valuable experience”.- P. Thennarasi, Asst. Professor, Nehru College of Management.
“This program was very informative. Got new insights about Entrepreneurship”.- M. Saranya, Asst. Professor, Nehru College of Management.
“It motivated us to open a startup and run it efficiently and effectively. I will motivate my students to become entrepreneurs”.- D. Victor Seelan, Asst. Professor, Nehru College of Management.
“I feel happy to attend the FDP program. Excellent speech given by all guest speakers. The way they explained was wonderful. Very much useful to all participants”.- V. Sri Hari Devi, Asst. Professor, Nehru College of Management.
“This FDP program gave deep insights about the way with which the students should be handled. I understood that more than the teacher, I should be a facilitator. All the trainers are experts in their field and for the same the training turned out to be really useful”.- Dr. L. Karthikeyan, Director – MBA, Nehru College of Management.
“A) I got some inputs regarding patents. As a technical person, those sessions were interesting for me to patent new inventions. B) Got anew exposure in the area of entrepreneurship. Initially, not having any interests to become an entrepreneur, but now thinking to do something”.- A. Hari Ram, Faculty – L&D (Technical), CIR, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
“Really, it’s eye opening for me. There is lot of motivation. Information delivered throughout the program is very useful for me. The organising team was very good and highly supportive”.- C. Rajinikandh, Lab Assistant, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
“General awareness about entrepreneurship and the various support given by various agencies plus lot of connect with various resource persons with whom we can get in touch for organising programs related with Entrepreneurship in our institute. Now I have got clarity on how to conduct and how to approach for fund plus various topics to be covered for related programs”.- Dr. N. R. Narayanan., Associate Professor, Guruvayurappan Institute of Management.
“Truly effective. Could substantially improve my entrepreneurship mentoring skills and also widely increase my network of highly looked upon contacts”.- J. M. Prabha, Freelancer.
“I have got enough information about Entrepreneur Development Cell which I can start in our college. I have got enough contacts of resource persons which is very useful for me”.- Dr. A. Antony Fernandez, Principal, Christ The King Polytechnic College.
“I had benefited and started planning to implement the ED Cell activities in our college. The FDP program gives knowledge about funding, many resource persons’ contacts and how to set up an E club in our college”.- M. Arun Kumar, Asst. Professor – ECE, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan College of Engineering.
“This FDP program was very much useful to me. Really fulfilled our expectations in Entrepreneurship as all areas are covered. Hospitality by the Amrita Centre is very good. Industrial visit is also very good by visiting the Amar Metering company and PSG STEP Coimbatore”.- P. Suresh Kumar, Asst. Professor – CSE, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan College of Engineering.
“I have got a knowledge about EDP-DST programs and it motivated me to encourage the entrepreneurs”.- Divya C.S., Asst. Professor, Mother Teresa Women’s University – Research & Extension Centre.
“Faculty Development Program, organised by Amrita Centre for Entrepreneurship is very much useful for the young minds who want to pursue their career in business field. The hospitality was excellent and the resource persons were from all the necessary fields to develop our calibre. Overall, the programme is Excellent”.- P. Tamilarasi, Asst. Professor, Mother Teresa Women’s University – Research & Extension Centre.
“Gained knowledge about Entrepreneurship. Learnt patent rights, copyright and geographical indication. Accommodation & hospitality is nice and good. I feel it is a better place to learn EDP. Holy and peaceful place”.- S. Arun Kumar, Asst. Professor, Joseph Arts & Science College, Thirunavallur, Villupuram.
“I have learnt to mentor the students to become as an Entrepreneur. I have confidence of conducting programs in our EDC Cell. I got many resource persons’ and industrialists’ contacts. Of all, a great hospitality and well organised programs by ACE which makes the entire schedule worthy for me”.- Dr. V. Devabharathi, Professor, KSR Institute for Engineering & Technology, Tiruchengode.
“I came to know about starting a start-up, Stand up, commercialisation of my product and know helpful sources like loan. I have learned clearly from all the resource persons about getting loan or initial planning and to make into commercial model and after running a business, make it to survive with other competitors… Very fruitful”.- Dr. P. Selvaraju, Professor, VelTech Multitech Dr. Rangarajan Dr. Sakunthala Engineering College.
“I got very useful information about entrepreneurship. I hope I can make an impact among our students. I came to know various supports are available from government too”.- Vishnudas K S, Lecturer, Christ The King Polytechnic College.
“Awareness program to be given to the technical qualified students”.- I. Srinivasan, Principal (Retired), Government Industrial Training Institute (ITI).
“This program is an eye-opener for the participants. It gives a lot of confidence and ideas to participate in the national movement of promoting entrepreneurship”. – Dr. C. Kanagaraj, Director, Happy Valley Business School.
“To initiate EDP in our institution, enriched knowledge on Entrepreneurship”. – Dr. A. Kannan, Associate Professor (LPM), College of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Mannuthy.
“First of all, I thank the coordinator and supportive staff who organised the program like this. Unique speakers shared their knowledge… and university hospitality as well. I think the relationship must continue in future with other needed topics”. – Dr. E. Muthukumar, Professor, Nehru College of Management.
“Mentoring in entrepreneurship; various funds / research labs available; and having identified and brought out the skills of Entrepreneurship in myself”. – S.R. Sathyanarayanan, Asst. Professor, Nehru College of Management.
“This FDP program is very useful for my Academic Teaching in the topics of Innovation and Entrepreneurship”. – Dr. Suresh M., Associate Professor, Amrita School of Business, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
“Yes, have benefitted. FDP program gave information for me for growth of my career”. – S.L. Ramesh Babu, Freelancer.