Entrepreneurship Week (E Week) India, an initiative of National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN), a not-for-profit organisation that promotes next generation of entrepreneurs in India, today culminated at a grand closing ceremony in Bangalore. Celebrated from February 2 - February 9, 2008, spread across 30 cities and towns in India, E Week had more than 270 institutes and over 2,00,000 youth participating in an array of entrepreneurial activities, ranging from business plan games, rallies, panel discussions, workshops, aimed at improving the ecosystem for entrepreneurship.

Delivering the keynote address, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon said, "India has been considered a knowledge hub and potential destination for R&D due to the sizeable talented workforce that the Indian institutes create. It is essential to allow this section of society to become future leaders as well. Industry and academia need to work in synergy to create an eco-system that nurtures the spirit of entrepreneurship among youth. NEN is a great platform that mentors and supports the spirit of entreprenuership."

Some of the other special guests included Chander Baljee, chairman and MD, Royal Orchid Hotels Ltd; Chetan Maini, deputy chairman and CTO, Reva Electric Car Company; Kanwaljeet Singh, co-founder and MD, Helion Venture Partners; Pradeep Kar, founder chairman and MD, Microland and Vijay Kirloskar, Chairman and MD, Kirloskar Electric Company Ltd who shared with youth interesting entrepreneurial experiences and anecdotes.

Laura Parkin, Executive Director NEN, said, "I am delighted to see that the entrepreneurial revolution is gaining momentum. This year NEN's perseverance to bring industry and academia on a common platform has paid off. High spirited, enthusiastic students, institute heads, forever supportive corporate partners and industry bodies have made E Week a grand success. Next E Week, like every time we will aim to nurture the spirit of enterprise and empower many more students on campuses thus creating the much needed propellant to enterprise."

In addition to the student activities, E Week India also saw corporate and association partners actively support E Week awareness campaigns and efforts. The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), India Venture Capital Association (IVCA), Indian Angel Network (IAN), Proto.in and Dare whole heartedly contributed to NEN's effort to nurture and instill entrepreneurship in campuses and democratise opportunities. E Week 2008 is supported by corporate sponsors including HSBC, Himalaya and Symphony Services.

The highlight of this year's event was the much awaited fashion show by student designers of Mount Carmel College. Fashion Designer, Namrata G, Sanjay and Yashodhara Shroff of Ffolio selected the best student entrepreneur fashion designer from campus. To add to the festivities was live dance performance by Nritarutya. ……….. walked away as winners of the E Week champion award and for the ones who missed the action on campus there were images of E Week from across India.

About NEN
National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) is a not-for-profit initiative of the Wadhwani Foundation working to inspire, educate and support the younger generation of entrepreneurs. Currently NEN is working with more than 295 top-tier academic institutes reaching over 3 lakh young people across 30 cities of India. The organization was co-founded in 2002 by leading Indian institutes, including IIT-Bombay, IIM-Ahmedabad, BITS Pilani, SP Jain and IBAB. NEN's advisory board includes eminent experts such as Kiran Mazumdar Shaw - Biocon; Naina Lal Kidwai - HSBC; Arun Seth - British Telecom and Prof Howard Stevenson - Harvard Business School to name a few.

Media contacts
Babit Batra
Manager, Strategic Communications
National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN)
E Mail: babit[at]nenglobal.org

Ms. Shruti Upadhyay /
Ms. Subhashini Pattabhiraman
Text 100
Phone: 080 25548808-11
E Mail 1: shrutiu[at]text100.co.in
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