Cuttack: In his recent Mann Ki Baat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested to adopt Khadi Handkerchief as part of the gifts and felicitations. Sri Sri University has found this inspiring. During the celebration of First MSME Day today in the campus such a resolution was adopted by faculty members of the university. Resolution was proposed by the Dean and was supported by faculty members.
The first MSME day has been celebrated around the world today. The United Nations has identified 27th June as the MSMEs Day to celebrate the importance and role of MSMEs and ‘to raise public awareness of their contribution to sustainable development’. Sri Sri University celebrated the first International Day for MSMEs. Srinovation, the Entrepreneurship Development Cell (ED) of Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies (FCMS) at Sri Sri University in collaboration with National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) organised a round table discussion. Faculty members, staff and students participated in the round table discussion.
Prof Srinivas Subbarao, the new Dean of FCMS introduced the theme to the participants and emphasized the role of MSMEs in the economy of a nation. He cited the data from International Council for Small Business (ICSB), which highlighted that ‘formal and informal Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) make up over 90% of all firms and account on average for 60-70% of total employment and 50% of GDP’.
Prof Subbarao who has a PhD on entrepreneurship expressed happiness that government initiatives are now directed towards promoting an entrepreneurial culture in society and also on university campuses. He highlighted on the Sri Sri University’s study and research focus on MSME and entrepreneurship. The establishment of Srinovation-the Entrepreneurship Development Cell has created a campus start-up culture where student led startups have been launched and supported. He shared about his new initiatives on how MSME would be integrated in the MBA programme from 2017 onwards. that are introduced from this year onwards to globalise the MBA experience in the university.
Mr. Barada Prasad, the Regional Manager of National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) of the Wadhwani Foundation spoke about the opportunities for MSMEs in Odisha and at the national level. He shared his insights into three major challenges, i) credit access policies, ii) technological transformation and iii) the support required in training and skilling. He shared the role of NEN in facilitating entrepreneurship in the country. NEN has been an active partner with Srinovation and they have organised several regional and national level startup meets at Sri Sri University.
Bibhu Prusty, the CEO of Srinovation, spoke on the campus startup culture and how Sri Sri University is leading the movement of campus incubators in the country. He shared that more students are keen to pursue entrepreneurship. He thanked the university authority for preparing a conducive atmosphere for idea incubation and most important for the support from faculty members and the university administration when required. He appreciated the effort of Prof Subbarao in strengthening Srinovation.
The Round Table adopted a MSME Day Resolution where three important points were highlighted. First is to promote MSME products on campus especially the Khadi and Village industries products after being inspired by the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote Khadi handkerchiefs for the gifts, second is to have special focus on MSME in MBA Curriculums of general management, agribusiness and entrepreneurship and to encourage students to study MSMEs for their project and assignment works, the third is to train MSME entrepreneurs in Skills Development and recent development in law and taxation.
The event was organised by Srinovation and NEN. It was attended by Faculty members from FCMS, Good Governance, and Journalism. Staff members and student also attended and contributed to the discussion and the MSME draft resolution.
In the valedictory, Prof Subbarao thanked Vice Chancellor Dr. Nand Lal, Director Operation, Shri Narendra Lamba and Digital Media coordinator Mr. Kamala Kanta Dash for their support. He thanked Smt. Rajita Kulkarni, the President of the university, for extending intellectual and global network support to him. Prof Subbarao also thanked Mr. Barada Prasad of NEN for partnership and Mr. Bibhu Prusty and his team at Srinivation for organizing the important function.
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