Bengal Chamber holds conclave on entrepreneurship and startups to boost local ventures

Organised by the Entrepreneur’s Committee of the Chamber, speakers at the inaugural session included Ambarish Dasgupta, Past President, Bengal Chamber; Deepak Daftari from the Chamber's Entrepreneur’s Committee and Director & CEO, DD Web Vision Pvt Ltd; Dr. Alok Roy, Past President of the Chamber and Director of Medica Group of Hospitals; and Abhijit Hazra, Managing Director, Touchstone Tie-up Pvt. Ltd.

Debashis Sen, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Information Technology & Electronics,  who is also the Chairman and Managing Director of Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited and Chairman of Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority of the Government of West Bengal delivered a special lecture.

He said, "With new technology, new vistas are opening up new opportunities. Today is the age of networking, co working and clustering. The future lies not in conventional banks but digital banks. The West Bengal government is putting a lot of emphasis in building IT parks in Purulia,  Bolpur and a few other areas and not just in Sector V in the city."

"Also with Artificial Intelligence becoming all pervasive, there is also a need to implement steps for cyber security and cyber crime management. Therefore a centre for excellence for Cyber Security is coming up soon." hd said.

Sen also said that the state government is also holding workshops to acquaint different departments with the best practices in cyber security.

The West Bengal Government has also launched the 'State Startup Policy' to boost new business ventures in the state.

The policy covers the period between January 2016 and December 2021.

The policy document includes various guidelines to enable startups to kick-start their projects,  along with various directives, procedures and incentives for start ups.

The Chamber's conclave too aimed to encourage and  support  young upcoming entrepreneurs by addressing and discussing all facets of startups with industry experts and leaders with experience and domain knowledge.

Other speakers at the Conclave included Ravi Jagannathan, Managing Director & CEO, KrypC Technologies, founder and former Managing Director and CEO, e-mudra, and founder MD & CEO, YPayCash; Jayanta Ghosh, co-founder and Director, Microtalk Group Ltd; Devi Murthy, founder, Kamal Kishan;  Gautam Dey, Managing Director & CEO, ICT Health, Dubai.

Some of the well-known startup founders such as Miftaur Rahaman, co-founder & CFO, Wow Momo Foods Pvt Ltd; Jaydeep Mandal, founder & Managing Director, Aakar Innovations and Co-founder & Director, Aakar Social Ventures, were also present to share their experiences.