E-Week, Asia’s largest entrepreneurship event is back! (20th – 27th February 2016)

National Entrepreneurship Network [NEN] organizes the

9^thE-Week, 2016

~ The Entrepreneurship Week India is Asia’s largest campaign to build public support for entrepreneurship ~

~ Entrepreneurship led activities across campuses over a week will cover30 cities, 5000 events and 7,00,000 participants ~

~The theme of E-Week 2016,“Innovative Ideas for a Better World”aims at enhancing the entrepreneur-friendly environment in India and making it more vibrant  ~

Mumbai, 01 February, 2016: National Entrepreneurship Network [NEN]today announced the roadmap forE-Week 2016, a popular entrepreneurship event in the country amongst a massive students gathering across the country covering 18 states and 30 cities.E-Week, an annual event driven by NEN the flagship initiative of Wadhwani Foundation has created ripples across the country and this year aims over 700,000 participants to participate. The Eweek culminates in four grand finales at four regions, North, South, East& West.

The theme of this E-Week 2016 “Innovative Ideas for a Better World” has focused on encouraging educators and students to become ‘innovation catalysts’ by making deep investments in ideas and innovations that guarantee market success. NEN E-Week is focused to build public awareness and support for entrepreneurship. The initiative further encourages public attention on today's biggest opportunities and persuades participants to reflect on their role as leaders and innovators. The campaign will see active involvement of many organizations that support entrepreneurship - corporate entities; industry captains, experts, non-profits, and faculty leaders to inspire, encourage, and guide students.

“E-Week is a National Entrepreneurship Network [NEN] initiative in its 9^th year now. It is designed to encourage educators and students to become innovation catalysts by making deep investments in ideas and innovations that guarantee market success. With a slew of ‘Startup India’ measures recently announced, we feel that it is the right time to intensify our efforts in encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs to partner with industries that can propel their innovation labs. Our programs have inspired many students to start their own ventures immediately after graduation. We are now planning to expand these programs to over 3000 colleges in the coming years, in partnership with the Government”, says Sashi Chimala, Executive Vice President, National Entrepreneurship Network [NEN], Wadhwani Foundation. 

The E-Week regional qualifiers this year will be held across all zones- North [Jaipur], Central [Indore], South [Bangalore] and East [Calcutta]. Students with the most compelling stories stand a chance to share their stories during the regional rounds and win prizes. Institutes wishing to register can log in athttp://eweek.hostedindia.com/

Participating Institutes will be eligible for 3 categories of awards:

1.      E-WEEK PREMIER AWARDS

·         High Impact Institute Award:Displaying exemplary determination and dedication in running high decibel programmes that result in creation of more start-ups

·         Campus Company Award: Identifying and rewarding some of the best campus companies across India

2.       E-WEEK INNOVATION AWARDS

·         Institute Innovation Award:Recognizing efforts of an institute for encouraging its students to come up with innovative solutions to local challenges 

·         School Innovation Award: Rewarding aschool team which has developed innovative project/ideas as a solution to existing problems

3.       E-WEEK SPECIAL AWARDS: Forinstitutes who are committed to promote entrepreneurship and organize various impactful programs and activities on campus throughout the year in addition to organizing impactful thematic events during E-week. 

·         E-Week Champion Award: Overall excellence and leadership in direct creation of quality ventures

This campaign platform is primarily created to recognize and promote creativity where innovative ideas can be proposed, shared and disseminated. This will be a national register of innovations which helps any individual to accentuate his/her remarkable innovations and convert them into viable business opportunities. It will also help these remarkable innovations reach a larger audience, who could take advantage and replicate the benefits of their respective communities.

With the ever growing entrepreneurship ecosystem in India catalysed by National Entrepreneurship Network and India Govt., E-Week India has become a much sought after annual event among the students and entrepreneurs community. It is India’s largest awareness campaign to build public support for entrepreneurship.

The activities include competitions, expositions, educational movie screenings, leadership and motivation talks with successful entrepreneurs, panel discussions, business plan and skill building workshops, business and tech bazaars, awareness campaigns and much more.

The entrepreneur ecosystem in India has come a long way. Despite the challenges and limitations, India’s entrepreneurs have started making a big impact on the global scene. Imagine what could happen if we pull out all the stops and create an entrepreneur-friendly environment in India. The next big Microsoft or Google will will definitely emerge from the innovation labs of an Indian campus.

For more details on E-Week,  please visit http://eweek.nenonline.org/

About Wadhwani Foundation:

Wadhwani Foundation’s primary mission is accelerating economic development in emerging economies through large-scale job creation. Five Initiatives driving innovation, entrepreneurship and skill development cater to this mission. The Foundation is present in India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Malaysia, and has plans to expand to other countries in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America.

National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) inspires, educates and supports student entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs for creating high-value jobs.

Skills Development Network (SDN) provides vocational training support to educational and training institutes, and employers for entry-level mid-skill jobs through a video based online platform.

Opportunity Network for Disabled (OND) mainstreams the educated disabled into sustainable high quality corporate jobs through a business value proposition.

Research and Innovation Network (RIN) aims to create a world-class innovation ecosystem in India with the goal of propelling India towards the top ten innovative nations in the world.

Policy Research Centre provides data driven research inputs for informed policy action towards accelerating economic growth. The initiative has also established a chair in U.S-India policy at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C.