BENGALURU: The Chief Executive Officer of Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), Sanjeev Gupta, stated that to extend entrepreneurship and development beyond Bengaluru, there is a need to create pipes connecting the clusters of Mysuru, Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad, Mangaluru, Tumakuru, etc.
In his opening statement during a session on ‘Finding Boundary Hitters: Beyond Bengaluru’ at the Bengaluru Technology Summit-2023 on Friday, Gupta emphasised why there is a need to transcend beyond Bengaluru and do much bigger things that Bengaluru can’t think of. “If there’s an aspiration to go beyond Bengaluru, the creation of a ‘Beyond Bengaluru Mission’ is important”, Gupta said.
Local industry champions in these clusters lead the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, part of the state government’s initiative ‘Beyond Bengaluru’. “There’s a need to create an edge for different products in different clusters. In the last two years, in the journey of this mission, we have helped 47 companies set up their operations”, Gupta informed.
The entrepreneurial spirit in the young minds came to the fore at this session when students of a government high school in Belagavi district showcased their innovation — the Light Writer Pen.
With no power in their village, the students were finding it difficult to study in the dark. This led them to create the Light Writer Pen, similar to a torch that can be fixed to a pen. Once charged for 30 minutes, they can use it for 10 hours. The student entrepreneurs were urged for mentorship, technological support, labs, funding, and market reach to grow their businesses and bring out more models.
Entrepreneur Kiriti Kapavari felt exposing students from smaller towns to elevate their ideas and innovation was the need of the hour. Giving an outside-in perspective to the problem-solving capabilities, which becomes a big business opportunity, Ananya Mungara, founder of Smart Chakra, said that this is already being seen in Tier II cities.
Jitendra P Nayak, a member of TiE Hubballi, said that people in smaller towns need equal treatment and facilities. “The best chance to build businesses locally is through locals”, he added. Suresh Narasimhan, Managing Partner at CoCreate Ventures, moderated the session. (ANI)