ICSSR SPONSORED ONE DAY WORKSHOP HELD AT TBS, JU

Jammu Feb 23: The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) sponsored a one-day workshop on “From Idea to Impact: Boosting Startups through Stakeholder Intervention and Investor Sensitization” organized at The Business School, University of Jammu on February 23, 2024 (Friday). The purpose of the workshop was to deliberate on the findings and outcomes of the ICSSR Short Term Empirical Research project titled “A Study of Financial Sustainability and Investor Perception of Innovative Businesses in Jammu and Kashmir (UT) Supported by Atal Innovation Mission” awarded to Dr. Amisha Gupta, Associate Professor, The Business School, JU. The workshop commenced with the lamp lighting ceremony in the inaugural session.

Prof. Vinay Chauhan, Director, The Business School formally welcomed the esteemed and distinguished guests to the workshop. He congratulated the recipients of the ICSSR Projects and encouraged them to continue their efforts to pursue excellence.

The Project Director, Dr. Amisha Gupta highlighted the details of the Project and discussed the importance of Start-Up success, investor perception and financial sustainability in boosting economic development in UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

Prof. Supran Sharma, Chief Coordinator, EDC, SMVDU was the Chief Guest of the occasion. He highlighted the need for official recognition of entrepreneurs and startups. He further stressed on demographic dividend and skill development. The Guest of honour for the occasion was Ms. Nazia Chowdhary, JKAS, Project Manager, Directorate of Industries and Commerce who encouraged the potential and budding entrepreneurs to initiate and boost their startups by acquainting the audience with different Central Incentive Schemes like Pradhan Mantri employment generation programme (PMEGP), 30% Capital Investment Incentive and many more. The Keynote speaker for the event was Dr. Saurabh Saran, Principal Scientist, CSIR- Indian Institute for Integrative Medicine and Principal Investigator, IIIM – TBI. He made the audience aware about the Technology Business Incubator and other facilities available at IIIM. He also discussed about the Lavender cultivation, Aroma Mission and Biotech entrepreneurship. This session was concluded by appreciating a specially gifted entrepreneur, Ms. Rashmi Jain, who besides her speaking and listening disability is a successful fashion designer running her studio and setting examples for many. Mementos were presented to the dignitaries as a token of appreciation and gratitude.

The Session II was about the discussion on objectives, relevance and findings of the ICSSR Project by the Research Associate Ms. Shumalini Goswami and Field investigator Raies-Ul-Ehrar-Wani. Session –II focused on a panel discussion on ‘‘Conquering Challenges and Promoting Awareness through stakeholder intervention for startups’’ in which Mr. Arshad Noomani,JKAS, Functional Manager, DIC, Jammu; Dr. Dharitri Rath, Assisstant Professor,IIT, Jammu and Direcor, AIC; Dr. Navneet Kumar, Assisstant Professor,IIT, Jammu and Direcor, ACIC; Mr. Vishal Ray, Head- CIIBM, JKEDI, Jammu and Mr. Ankush Varma, Coordinator TBI, CSIR-IIIM, Jammu were the panelists who shared their insightful and valuable outputs about startup encouragement and development among various sectors in the state.

In session III Prof. Ashutosh Vashishtha, Coordinator, TBIC, SMVDU; Mr. Abhishek Baru, Manager, C&BO, J&K Bank; Mr. Atul Vinod duggal, AVD Motion pictures and Mr. Tahir Ahmed, Angel one ltd. Daing Stock Academy were the resource person who discussed ‘‘Boosting Startup Sustainability through Investor Sensitisation’’.

Session –IV was the Valedictory Session which incorporated an open house discussion in which the participants shared their suggestions and raised queries which were addressed by the expert panel and thereafter the workshop was concluded on a successful note.

 The workshop was attended by entrepreneurs, investors, renowned members of the society, Faculty, Scholars, students, and staff of the Business School, University of Jammu. The workshop provided a great learning experience for all the attendees.

 The sessions were coordinated by Ms. Shumalini Goswami, Ms. Stuti Mishra and Ms. Muskan Gupta.