The Startup Story

“An idea can change your life…” this tag line of Idea telecommunication captures well the soul of entrepreneurship. ‘The Startup Story’, an event organized by The Centre for Entrepreneurship Development at FORE School of Mangement proved this point right. An idea, small or big can change your entire course of life, and it did for the three entrepreneurs who visited FORE School of Management on 28th June,2013 to share their success stories with an aim to make the management students taste the flavor of what it takes to become an entrepreneur and have your own set up.

The esteemed panel included Mr. Ankit Mehrotra founder dineout.co.in, Mr. Sahil Bagla, founder Bluegape Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. Ankur Gupta founder, Connectech India.The session was chaired by Ms. Geetika Dayal, Executive director TiE, New Delhi.

The panelists with Ms. Geetika Dayal (Executive Director – TiE) who chaired the session 

Mr. Ankit Mehrotra is the co-founder and CEO of Dineout. Dineout hostswww.dineout.co.in, a table reservation website which enables the customer to book a table, online and through the phone, at their favorite restaurants in town and provides them fantastic discounts for FREE, which they would not be entitled to if they go to the restaurant directly. Mr. Ankit Mehrotra,  a CFA charter holder  with an Engineering degree from  Computers and Telecommunication University of Essex, he has more than 7 years of experience in investment banking and Wealth Management with BNP Paribas in London, where he was managing a portfolio of UHNWI. However, he quit his job and moved back to India in late 2011 to start Dineout. He was awarded the Young Entrepreneur of the year 2012 and the 6^th Indira International Innovation Summit in 2013.

Ankit Mehrotra, Founder - Dineout 

Mr. Sahil Baghla is the co- founder and CEO of Bluegape Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd. Bluegape.com is started with a vision to deliverpersonalized poster that can reflect your attitude to the world. Mr.Baghla is an entrepreneur by character and an IITian by education. He is a senior Undergraduate from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (July 2008-May 2012) and was a visiting student at university of Kansas. He did his internship from Orbis Biosciences and was the Overall Coordinator at the Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kanpur. He is a specialist in Team Building, Chemical Engineering, Biomaterials and entrepreneurship.

Mr. Ankur Gupta is the Founder of Connectech India Services. It is a parent company which has companies like Gadget Guru, Rainbow Impex, www.gadgetpotli.com and China Global Trading Enterprise Limited, Honk Kong under its umbrella. He is an astute professional with 4 years’ experience in the areas of Pre-Sales Initiative Marketing and Business Development. Associated with companies like Teleperformance India, Gurgaon, HDFC Bank Ltd, Kotak Securities Ltd, SREI International Securities Ltd, he is adept in developing ‘winning’ demonstration and presentations for key decision makers. A FORE alumni he hass hands on experience in exploring and developing new markets, identifying customers, brand promotion, new product launch and developing growth.

The session chair was Ms. Geetika Dayal who is the executive Director-TiE, New Delhi. Previously she was the proprietor of Magnus consulting for 5 years. She has been associated with TiE since July 2001. She is an expert in area of Entrepreneurship and Team Building.

Each of these entrepreneurs had one thing in common; they all had a novel idea, an unmatched passion and an unending determination. They dared to believe that they would do it. They had to face the opposition of the world and above all the opposition of their families. They said it was the hardest part in the journey of any entrepreneur to convince his family to have a belief in their ideas. It was hard to stop, turn and choose a new path, they said. Fear and disappointed haunted their thoughts now and then. But they never gave up. And now, here they are where no one would have imagined them a few years back. And yes, it all began with a simple, novel, practical yet innovative-idea!

DONATE BLOOD, SAVE LIVES

On 1^st August, 2013, team Antar, the student’s CSR committee at FSM, and Fore Sports and Cultural Division organized a blood donation camp in collaboration with Rotary Blood Bank. The event, aptly named ‘Raktdaan’, was a roaring success.  In just six hours from 12 Noon to 6pm, the students of FSM managed to donate 100 units of blood, demonstrating and reinforcing the long-held belief that FORE School of management is not just a place for academic excellence but also a nursery of compassion and social sensitivity.

Before the actual donation of blood, the potential donors were screened for the suitability of their blood through a battery of tests. It was a long and comprehensive process in itself. But the assiduity and the efficiency of the team from Rotary Blood Bank, made the tedious process worth our while. A number of willing potential donors were rejected on account of their medical history, recent intake of certain antibiotics, high or low blood pressure and so on, but no one can fault their enthusiasm and pure compassion.

A blood donor at FORE School of Management

The blood donation process was conducted inside a fully equipped specialized bus, parked at the staff parking lot, inside the college premises. Students kept pouring in as and when their classes got over and also in the breaks between the classes.

The blood donors were provided with snacks, mementos and certificates testifying to their contribution to the event, after the process was over. All in all it was a satisfying and enriching experience for all parties involved- the donors, the organizers and the volunteers, and one can rest assured that the success story of ‘Raktdaan’ will be written in golden words in the annals of Fore School of Management.

FRESHER’S PARTY

Work hard and party harder and while you are at FORE School of Management, you definitely deserve to party harder! - Team NEXUS did a wonderful job of amalgamating these thoughts with their creative genius and creating an everlasting memory for the batch of FMG22 and IMG7.

After a long month of assignments, presentations, getting to know each other and of course, the universally monogamous white and grey uniform, finally the D-day arrived when the students got a chance to celebrate themselves.  Dressed up exquisitely, with gleaming eyes, a playful smirk on face and party on mind, as the batch of 2013-15 assembled in Virajam Auditorium on 19 July 2013 for the Fresher Party, it was a sight to behold.  The delightful hosts for the evening were Nitish Dahiya and Shivna Jain and as the evening progressed, it turned out to be way better than promised with enchanting band performances, role plays which spelled entertainment and enthralling dance numbers which got everyone moving to the beats.

Band Performance during Freshers for Batch 2013-15, FORE School of Management

The highlights of the event were the presentation of Best Mentor-Mentee award and various other titles to appreciate the distinctiveness and individuality in the junior batch but what actually stole the show was an enthralling dance performance by Shivna Jain and Nupur Sarda from the senior batch. The ceremonial Mr. Fresher and Ms. Fresher titles were presented to the surprise package of the evening, Divye Gandhi and the ever charming and vivacious, Shuchi Singh respectively. As they set the stage on fire with their masquerade ball dance, the picture was painted perfect. It goes without saying that the party would have been incomplete without the mouth watering delicacies and crazy dance moves to the DJ tunes.

An evening full of fun, dance, music, food, drama, photo shoots, spontaneity and craziness... maybe words won’t do much justice to such a beautiful evening but nevertheless, it will be forever etched in a diary we all carry about with us.....our memory!