Startup Ashoka 2017

By Centre for Entrepreneurship 

As a way of celebrating the National Entrepreneurship Day, the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Ashoka University organized Start-up Ashoka in November 2017 where 130 students participated.

Startup Ashoka is an annual 30-hour non-stop roller-coaster ride where aspiring entrepreneurs at Ashoka University are given a platform to come up with their big ideas and make them viable business plans. The event required participants to develop team- building and coordination skills through a variety of tasks, with the objective of introducing them to the concept of “Starting Up”. The event was facilitated by Apoorv Bamba, Innovation Manager at the Centre for Entrepreneurship and founder of Startup Safari, a global travel immersion program for young entrepreneurs.

Participants voted for the top 16 ideas from a pool of over 65 and then formed teams to work around these ideas to deliver their final pitches. The teams were mentored by industry experts consisting of Priyank Narayan, Director, Entrepreneurship Programs at Ashoka University; Manish Upadhyay, Cofounder, LIQVID and Advisor to Central Square Foundation and AIM Smart City Accelerator; Kshitij Garg, Founder, Healers at Home; Vidushi Malhotra, CEO, Startup Safari; Deepak HariHaran, Founder, MentorYes and Prashast Srivastava, Co-founder, Saajha. The mentoring sessions helped the students gain insights on the business aspects and viability of their startup ideas. The keynote speech was delivered by Ms. Shreyasi Singh, Head Ed-Tech initiatives at 9.9 Media and author of the Wealth Wallahs.

Team Wearability bagged the first prize with their idea to empower the specially-abled by giving them an opportunity to experience fashion, comfort and happiness. The first runners-up were team Insolar, for a prototype of solar powered back covers for mobile phones. The second runners-up were team Jugaad AC who presented an air cooler made by using plastic waste and recyclable materials. The Jugaad AC is reportedly the world’s first-ever ‘zero electricity’ air cooler.

The top teams received cash prizes worth 25,000 apart from, exclusive mentorship from industry experts, free access to co-working spaces in Delhi, free credits on cloud computing platform (if required) and direct selection and discounted tickets to Startup Safari.