Vigilance Awareness Week 2018 – Eradicate Corruption for New India
Eradicate Corruption – Build a new India
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the apex integrity institution of the country which endeavors to promote integrity, transparency, and accountability in public life has notified that this year Vigilance Awareness Week would be observed from 29th October 2018 to 3rd November 2018 with the following theme:
“Eradicate corruption – Build a New India”.
With an aim to generate awareness and encourage participation at large, the Commission has also envisaged the concept of Integrity Pledge. As such two integrity pledges are available urging support and commitment from:
- The citizens
- Corporates/entities/firms
The online “Integrity Pledge” is available on the CVC’s website http://www.cvc.nic.in. OR https://pledge.cvc.nic.in/
Please visit https://pledge.cvc.nic.in/ and take the pledge.
Let’s take the pledge for corruption free India.
EDII Student Startup – Velvety food: Delivering healthy food for healthy you!
If you are someone, who is in desperate need of healthy food to ensure a healthy you in this fast-paced life then your search ends here. Yes, you are in the right place. We present before you, EDII student Shantanu Chandak’s Startup ‘Velvety food’. It offers several food options such as nutritional fruits, nutritious meal with protein and fiber as well as salads to ensure healthy life to people across Ahmedabad.
The inspiration behind the idea:
In today’s fast-paced world, when people are more concerned about their health given the hectic and stressed lives, it truly becomes vital to ensure healthy lives with some unique nutritional food options. It was this observation that led to the idea of serving fresh food to people.
What does Velvety food have to offer? Any expansion plans?
Initiated in 2016 as a food service provider, Velvety food caters to the needs of healthy food with options ranging from fresh chopped fruits, salads, and fruit boxes, exotic tropical & seasonal fruits, sprout bowl to their customers. It offers services through applications like zomato, swiggy, khayejao and all you have to do is to make a single call to get it delivered right to your doorstep. Velvety food will soon unveil their stores in South Bopal, Ahmedabad and Indore by the end of this year.
How EDII helped velvety food?
Speaking about EDII, Shantanu Chandak, Founder, Velvety food says that “ EDII helped him to learn everything from basics to ethics. They trained us in such a way that wherever we go, we are going to make it to the top. They have inculcated the self-learning skills in me while teaching me to accept failure and to rise from failure. EDII has trained me to face all the obstacles that come in my way to become a successful entrepreneur.”
Message for juniors
“This is the time you have for yourself. Your knowledge is not enough. You networking is as much or even more important. You must take breaks and must enjoy what you are doing. Follow your passion and your passion will make you do miracles.”
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‘Startup mortality rate is 45-50%’
EDII-ASSOCHAM Study Identifies Emerging Areas
After the dot-com boom in the 1990s and early 2000s, the startup has been a new buzzword. However this boom has also started settling down – as many as 45% to 50% of the startups stumble right at the inception level, says ‘Entrepreneurs India: Gains & Misses,’ a background paper prepared by Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce And Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). The paper was released to mark the World Entrepreneurs Day recently in Delhi.
According to the paper, the inception to seed stage sees the exit of about half of the ventures that have the average funding of $200,000-250,000. The number goes down as ventures mature. At the growth and expansion stage, the mortality rate is about 10% where the venture funding is about $25 million.
Sunil Shukla, the director of EDII, said that a number of factors are responsible for the trend, including lack of funds and scalability issues. “On the brighter side, a number of government and private initiatives are supporting new ideas and we see better-equipped ventures now,” he said. “Hand-holding is needed the most at the initial stage on multiple issues.”
Talking about Gujarat, Shukla said that the state has seen an emergence of startups in the manufacturing sector.
“We also have huge potential in terms of inter-institutional collaborations,” he said. “Why can’t a student entrepreneur get design feedback from NID and marketing/operational tips from IIM-A?”
The paper says that healthcare, education, and financial inclusion along with technology in sectors such as sanitation, agriculture, and energy are future areas for Indian Startups. In 2017, the highest funding was attracted by startups in hyperlocal/consumer services sector, enterprise tech, and e-commerce.
Comparing startup policies of different states, the paper advocates the amalgamation of good practices and also cited examples from countries such as the US, Canada, and Singapore – the countries with a high number of successful ventures.
Women, Student Entrepreneurs on rise:
The paper says that India at the moment ranks third in the world in terms of startup incubators/accelerators with 192 centers ahead of countries such as Israel, Of the total, 92 are with academic institutions, 65 with private entities, 20 with corporate and 15 with government organizations. Student entrepreneurs thus are getting an early platform, Kavita Saxena, a faculty member at EDII and a co-author of the paper, said that it’s a misnomer that women entrepreneurs are associated with specific areas. “About 21% of tech startups have women as partners. The number is 17% in education and 4% in healthcare,” she said, adding that women are also venturing out of family businesses.
India’s Startup Ecosystem
Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR account for 68% of total startups.
Investment in startups – Approximately $13.7 bn in over 820 deals.
Major Areas of growth – Health tech 28%, Finance tech 31%, E-commerce – 13%
Number of active incubator/accelerator units – 192
Addition of new startups in 2017 – 1,000+
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