Impressa 2023
ENVISION- THE EXPIDITION
Motivation can drive a person toward the pinnacle through triumphant visions and missions of life. Henceforth, the Entrepreneurship Cell made a worthy effort to host a motivational session, 'Envision- The expedition', as a part of the flagship event, Impressa 2023. The program commenced by welcoming three envisioned women entrepreneurs - Ms.Rakhi Pal, Co-Founder, EventBeep; Mrs. Archana Pingle, Founder, Winstar Consulting and Ms. Nidhi Bennur, Co- Founder, Invoke Brandworks. The greet was followed by a brief introduction about SSBF and a glimpse into SSBF through a short film. The Director, Dr. Neha Parashar, welcomed the guests by felicitating them and addressing the senior and the junior batch. Additionally, an insight into the works of the E- cell committee was shown through a short video.
YOUR NETWORK IS YOUR NET WORTH -: As the first panelist, Mrs. Archana Pingle delivered a commendable talk by sharing her experience about the life she led during the pre-entrepreneurial period, her educational background, the source which drove her towards entrepreneurship, corporate life, a didactic poem recital and the areas of development one has to work on before stepping into the world of self - employment. She closed the discussion by asking the spectators to jot down the mindsets and skill sets that a change-maker must possess from their point of view. A short 'Q & A' session was held regarding the ways a partner is selected for the company and the options to increase product demand at a company.
FAIL FAST TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT THE EARLIEST- Right after the hosts introduced the second speaker, Ms. Rakhi Pal delivered an eloquent speech highlighting her pre-entrepreneurial life, hardships, Shark tank experience, managing salary, the initial phase of the company, and criteria for employment at EventBeep. She ended her discussion with a confidence booster advising the students to take risks by stepping out of their comfort zones. The audience asked about her experience dealing with competition and challenges as an entrepreneur.
MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE TO THE WORLD EVEN IF YOU HAVE EARNED PROFITS- The last but an eye-opening discussion was by Ms. Nidhi Bennur, as it gave the viewers insights into an individual's purpose in life and the three essential Ps of life. She advised the audience to be innovative and to create a purpose-driven enterprise that would benefit society positively. Additionally, in answering the students' queries, she touched upon the scope of social entrepreneurship and the ways to increase return on investment non-financially.
The session could not have had a better ending as it involved a fun yet didactic interaction by Mr. Manraj Singh, a stand-up comedian, after which a vote of thanks by the hosts was delivered. In a nutshell, the event was filled with an Ocean of inspiration which undoubtedly amplified the audience's self-confidence.
Impressa 2022
On February 5th, the Symbiosis School of Banking and Finance's Entrepreneurship Cell under the guidance of Deepa Pillai Ma’am held its flagship event 'Impressa' virtually on Zoom.
The event featured a panel discussion named Envision – 'Dialogue with the distinguished' with industry experts, including Mr. Amit Kothari-Founder at LabDogs-an E learning platform, Mr. Pradeep Zagare-Senior manager at International Customer Success at Wicked Reports, Mr. Gaurav Mishra-Founder at Navyuvak Entrepreneurs and Maker at Mumbai Startup Fest, Mr. Abhishek Saini-Founder of 'Those in Need'- that bridges gap between civil organizations and volunteers, and Mr. Ismail Akbani-Head of Innovation and Linkages of Symbiosis centre of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
They shared their perspectives on entrepreneurship and its importance, as well as educating students about their own entrepreneurial journeys. The panellists discussed their struggles, efforts, and ideas in beginning a firm, as well as what attributes are necessary for persistence and overcoming the hurdles of becoming an entrepreneur.
The panel discussion also covered how their firms operate, how the company idea came to be, and how to ensure that the technology and products they create are accessible to a wide range of people. It was an excellent brainstorming session that taught students and participants how to establish an entrepreneurial mindset and approach. The programme began with Ecell members asking them questions about their firms and entrepreneurship in general, and ended with a Q&A session in which students answered questions and clarified their doubts, followed by a vote of thanks.
Following the panel discussion, the event continued with a presentation of a business plan by participants from various institutions and streams. Each team comprised of one to three people. The judges asked the competitors to showcase their business plan concepts. The competitors were judged by two panels, each of which provided their own thoughts and observations on how the startups may be enhanced. With the support of experienced judges Mr. Prasad Kalbhande, Mr. Satyam Bhargava, Mr. Pratik Vakharia, and Mr. Umang Chowdhury, participants gained knowledge and a distinct viewpoint to think about the gaps in their present or planned startup and how it may do better. The following were the event winners for B plan where Team Qubit by Rutvik Mehenge was the winner and the Runner up was Team Noor by Apoorva Verma and Nikhil Bhardwaj.
Overall, the events were a major success and provided a fantastic opportunity for aspiring entrepreneurs to learn about the sector and receive feedback on their own business ideas.
Impressa 2021- An event for creative entrepreneurship
IMPRESSA- Ignite the Spark
Date: 15th May 2021
Time: 9 am to 5 pm
Number of participants: 225
On 15th May 2021, the Entrepreneurship Cell of SSBF organized IMPRESSA, their flagship
event for the first time virtually. This event consisted of various interesting activities like a Business plan competition, a panelist discussion of experts in the field of entrepreneurship and Sell with E- cell.
ENVISION - PANEL DISCUSSION
The first event for the day was Envision - “Dialogue with the Distinguished”. The panel consisted of Mr. Shailesh Agrawal, Co- Founder and Director, Clonect Solutions Pvt. Ltd. & Angel Investor, Mr. Yuvraj Saswade, Mission Manager - Village Social Transformation Foundation Rural development Department - GoM and Mr. Harsh Shah, Co - Founder of The Financial Pandora.
The discussion started with Mr. Agrawal explaining how to analyse the potential of an innovative idea. He explained that the secret behind any successful idea is a proper analysis of wants and needs of the market. Mr. Saswade then continued on sharing his thoughts as to how start - ups can contribute to the social development of rural areas. He also shared his experience of working with the Maharashtrian government for supporting, mentoring and providing an environment for the start - ups who have ideas for the development of rural India. Mr. Shah also shared his experience of becoming Co- Founder of The Financial Pandora. The panelist answered various queries from the audience relating to the field of entrepreneurship and shared their individual advice to the budding entrepreneurs of the Future. Below is an image from the Panel Discussion
SELL WITH E- CELL
Winner - Ananya Malhotra
After a short break from the insightful Panelist Discussion, the Sell with E - cell event took
place where students of SSBF presented their business ideas that they had come up during
the pandemic. This was a great way for budding entrepreneurs to put forward their ideas and
gain feedback as to how they can be improved as well. Ananya Malhotra from batch
2019 -2021 was the winner for this event. Below are a few images from the Sell with E-Cell event.
SYNOVATE - B-PLAN COMPETITION
Winners - Team Chrysalis and Team AAYUSH
Impressa ended with the final event for the day that was “SYNOVATE” The B- plan Competition where the entrepreneurial skills were put to test.
Overall the events were a huge success and offered a great opportunity for upcoming Entrepreneurs to get insight about the industry environment and also gain feedback on their own business ideas.
Below are a few images from the B- Plan event.
Click here for detailsImpressa 2020
Saturday, 1st February 2020
Impressa is an annual flagship event conducted by Entrepreneurship Cell. The event is an assimilation of different set of activities such as quizzes, B-Plan or Business Plan (Pitching Business Ideas), Panel discussion, Sell with e-cell (opportunities for students to showcase their selling skills). It is a two day fun-filled event that aims at targeting persuasiveness, risk tolerance, and decisiveness. Students with specific entrepreneurial expertise take part in this event with a view to evolve their innovative skills and creativity that will go towards establishing his/her enterprise.
A panel of highly qualified and experienced industry professional are invited to provide students with the first-hand view of industry norms, practices, and governance. It is an interactive session where students get to clarify their respective doubts from these individuals and they also get the opportunity to learn about various prospect of the industry which is relevant for the current BFSI sector.
Students with keen interest in building their start-up are provided with a platform where they can showcase their unique and revolutionary ideas and their plan to receive funding for the same. These ideas are then judged based on their viability, validity and feasibility from the point of view of current market requirements and relevance. The student whose idea of innovation passes all the necessary parameters is declared the winner.
A two day activity is also organised where students put forth their marketing skills by selling items of their choice in the hope of earning revenue based on their capacity and ability to market their product which may impress upon the consumer’s preferences.
All in all, Impressa is a platform where holistic development of a person into an entrepreneur is guaranteed given he takes upon the challenge with sheer determination and passion.
Impressa 2019
Impressa, the annual flagship management event of Symbiosis School of Banking and Finance, was organized by the Entrepreneurship Cell of SSBF on 11th and 12th January 2019. Participation from various institutes across India made the event a great platform to compete with each other. The events planned for the first day of Impressa were Synovate. EPIC, and Sell with E-Cell. Synovate, was a platform where the students could come up with new ideas and also get suggestions to improve upon it. The first, second and third places were bagged by teams from S1BM, SIMC and IIM Trichy respectively. The committee also organised an eCash Policy Innovation Challenge (EPIC) to see if students can come up with an innovative idea to solve the problem of a delay in digitization. This was won by teams within SSBF itself. Sell with E-Cell gave students an opportunity to open their own food stalls and sell delicious biryani, cookies and pancakes. The second day had Envision, a panel discussion, organized for the students on the topic "The Shifting Facades of Entrepreneurship" gave the students an insight on what entrepreneurship is and how it has changed in the past few years. The Guest of Honour was Mr. Ajay Shastry, MD, Southern Africa Ferro Alloys Ltd. The panelists were Mr. Akash Sureldia, Entrepreneur and Advisor; Mrs. Sonia Konjeti, Social Entrepreneur; Adv. C. S. Kunal Sarpal, Lawyer and fP Expert, White Collar Legal LLP; and Mr. Yashodhan Joshi, Startup Mentor. They discussed how entrepreneurship has changed in the past two decades, how social media works to promote entrepreneurs with little or no investments and challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the ever changing business scenario. Each of the panelists also narrated the story behind their venture and explained the learning outcomes. The panelists did have differing views on some aspects, but, one thing that they unanimously agreed upon was the fact that it is imperative to know the industry, trust their instincts and never give up. Overall, the event was very informative and successful.
Impressa 2018
The entrepreneurship cell of Symbiosis School of Banking and Finance organised their annual event Impressa on 12th January 2018. The event which had a host of events, saw active participation from not just the students of SSBF but from the other colleges as well.
The first event, a panel discussion on the topic “Harnessing the innovative mindset” gave the students an insight on what entrepreneurship actually is. The panelists, Mr. Vikas Khanvelkar, MD and CEO of Design Tech, Mr. Kunal Maheshwari, Co-Founder of Superbowl and Mr. Vineet Sethi, Co-Founder of Bagtalk.com stressed upon the 5P’s of entrepreneurship i.e. Purpose, Passion, People, Proposition and Persistence. Each of the panelists also narrated the story behind their venture and explained the learning outcomes. The panelists did have differing views on some aspects, but, one thing that they unanimously agreed upon was the fact that it is imperative to know the industry that one is venturing into like the back of one’s palm.
Following this informative session, the students were given an opportunity to try their hand at developing business plans. The event, “Synovate” which saw teams from IIM-Indore, XLRI-Jamshedpur, K J Somaiya, IMI Delhi, SIBM-Pune, Jamnalal Bajaj etc was a platform where the students could come up with new ideas and also get suggestions to improve upon it. The first, second and third places were bagged by teams from SIIB, SIBM and MISB Bocconi respectively. The committee also organised an eCash Policy Innovation Challenge (EPIC) to see if students can come up with an innovative idea to solve the problem of a delay in digitisation. This was won by teams from SIBM and SPJIMR.
Apart from this, the students got to set up stalls and display their entrepreneurial skills. Overall, the event was very informative and successful.
Impressa 2017
Impressa, the annual flagship management event of Symbiosis School of Banking and Finance, held on 19th January 2017 and organized by Entrepreneurship cell of SSBF impressed everyone out there with the extravagance of its events. Participation from various institutes across India made the event a great platform to compete with each other. The two main events of impressa i.e. SYMPODIA and SYNOVATE tested the analytical and business skills of the participants.
SYMPODIA was the first event of Impressa which was an online quiz. Unlike other online quizzes, SYMPODIA broke the monotony of the cliché online quizzes. This quiz consists of 20 questions and each question has three figures, the common thing between the figures was the answer to the question. The twist was that the answer to a question was password for next question. The zeal to unlock the next question kept the participants engrossed in the quiz and motivated to brainstorm further. The participation this year was more than 150 in SYMPODIA and the positive appreciating feedback from all the participants showed us the success of the inaugural event of IMPRESSA.
The event by Entrepreneurship cell would be incomplete without a guest speaker for the budding entrepreneur. The skills of an entrepreneur can be best explained by a person who has experienced all of it. We were privileged to have Dr. Vivek Barve between us to give a speech for budding entrepreneur. Dr. Barve is an entrepreneur who is a co-founder of a company “Accures Legal”. Accures legal assist clients in all fields of intellectual property including patents, trademarks, copyright, designs, plant variety protection, geographical indications – from its development to its monetization. The speech was about the risk and planning an entrepreneur needs to do and different dimensions of business.
Impressa was concluded by the event “SYNOVATE – the Business plan competition “. Across India many teams registered for the event but 9 teams qualified for the finals after the preliminary round. The event was judged by Dr. Vivek Barve, Mr. Dilip Thosar and Dr. Shailesh Natu. The teams presented their business ideas in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. They were appreciated, advised and given constructive feedback by the judges. Judges provided some of the participants with their contact, so that they can get some help in starting up their ventures.
Impressa is growing year by year and the expectations of people becomes the motivation to make it even better. The efforts of Entrepreneurship cell under the guidance of Dr. Shailesh Natu made the event a great success.
Impressa 2015
Recognizing the need for harnessing the entrepreneurial spirit, the Entrepreneurship cell of SSBF organized its first Entrepreneurial Summit “Impressa“on 26th September, 2015. Based on the theme “Harnessing the Innovative Mindset”, the summit featured a series of events which included a guest lecture, panel discussion, a workshop and 3 Inter B-school competitions.
The summit was inaugurated with the lighting of the lamp and welcome address by the Deputy Director, SSBF. This was followed by a guest lecture by Mr. Rohan Chhazed, AVP, Zoomcar India Pvt Ltd on Business Startup Strategy. He spoke of the importance of understanding the value proposition that an entrepreneur presents to his customers as well as the importance of market share capture. It was a very interactive and informative session and Zoomcar goodies were distributed to the students. An impromptu contest was also held where the students of SSBF impressed the guests with their ability to devise marketing plans. This was followed by a workshop on trading in financial markets, conducted by Mr. Purv Shah- Member of BSE Stock Broker’s Forum. Mr. Shah explained the nuances of trading in stocks and shares and kept the audience hooked with his presentation.
The highlight of the Summit was a panel discussion on the theme –“Harnessing the Innovative Mindset.” The panel comprised of young and dynamic entrepreneurs and executives. The panelists included Mr. Manish Harodia, Founder of Dreamwallets; Mr. Mihir Badiani, Launch Manager, Swiggy; Mr. Purv Shah, Member of BSE Stock Broker’s Forum; Mr. Heramb Nargundkar, Director and Founder, Efact Solutions and Mr. Rakesh Das, Cofounder, Instainnovations India. Each of the panelists shared their experiences. The most important fact they highlighted was that there is no set route to success, and each entrepreneur must find their own path. The importance on disruptive technology and businesses was touched upon, and the need for an entrepreneur to be even more unfazed by failure than other professions. One thing to remember is that entrepreneurship requires iron certitude and that it is best to enter only if one is absolutely sure of pulling it off.
Apart from these, the E-Cell organized three exciting events for the B-school participants.
- Synovate (A Business Plan Competition)
- Symulate ( A Financial Simulation event)
- Sympodia (Puzzle Solving)
All three events received large number of registrations from across India. The finalists for Synovate and Symulate were selected on the basis of online test and submissions. There were a total of 10 teams who made it to the finals of Synovate and seven participants who made it to the finals of Symulate. Finals of both these events were held at SSBF. Team Achievers of CSS National Institute of Agriculture, Jaipur won the first prize and Team Vcare of SIBM Pune won the second prize in Synovate.
Amit Shirude of IIM Indore (Mumbai Campus) and Karthikeyan N.B. of IIM Indore (Mumbai Campus) won the first and the second prize respectively in Symulate. “Sympodia” was an off-campus event where participants participated in an online puzzle solving exercise, which involved hunting clues across a variety of images. Dinesh Gupta of International Management Institute, New Delhi won the first prize in Sympodia and Priyanka Lunawat of Wellingkar won the second prize. The event was sponsored by Zoomcar India Pvt. Ltd. and Swiggy, who also joined the discussions and guest lectures.
The event was a great success and we at SSBF look forward to seeing you all at Impressa 16!