Apart from raising an army of qualified technocrats, BITS Pilani has also been successful in producing students who have done wonders by starting their own companies.
According to BITS-Pilani Director Ashoke Kumar Sarkar, apart from the technical knowledge provided to a student during regular classes, BITS Pilani also conducts a summer programme for the students to equip themselves with the ins and outs of running a start up. Also, they come in contact with the top entrepreneurs from all over the country and US.
Besides this, the Jhunjhunu branch also has an inbuilt Technology Business Incubator (TBI) along with a Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership which emphasises on entrepreneurship development among the students.
The institute also has its centers in other places like Goa, Hyderabad and Dubai. Sarkar also mentioned that more than 5000 alumini can be seen making their mark both in India and abroad. This course at BITS Pilani is very helpful for students who want to learn how to develop a business model and student also give a very active response for the same. Despite the popularity and demand of this course, only 30 students are allowed to sit in these conferences and a screening session is organised to choose the students. The number of students is usually forced to 40 students every time.
Vaibhav Singh, dual degree holder from BITS Pilani, has started his own startup “Visit” which helps patients to choose from different doctors and psychologists online. Currently, he is targeting the tech savvy urban population but soon hopes to reach to the rural people as well.His venture has been funded by the MapMyIndia and the company is based in New Delhi.
An annual start up challenge is also organised by the students of BITS Pilani. About 1200 start ups participated in the same last year.
Similarly, another UG pass out, Shashank said that he is one of the few who have started their own business. He wants BITS Pilani to be among the top entrepreneurship promoting institutes. Shashank is a part of a Bangalore – based start-up ‘TapChief’.
According to Vice-Chancellor Bhattacharyaa, it is quite visible that BITS Pilani is giving great importance to entrepreneurship. Also, the institute is using CISCO TelePresence software, which helps during video interactions across the campuses and beaming lectures to different campuses.
Vijay Chandru, a renowned entrepreneur and alumnus of BITS-Pilani in his Convocation 2016 said that he thinks that entrepreneurship and its importance has risen to a great extent and if this enthusiasm towards entrepreneurship and teachings of the institutes is added together, then new growth engine that has more enduring value to society seems within reach.
Sarkar says that despite promoting entrepreneurship among their students, the institute wants the students and their parents, both to feel satisfied and secure as parents spend a lot of money in their child’s education. Keeping this in mind, BITS Pilani has a scheme for young entrepreneurs where after graduating, if things at the start up or the new venture does not go as per plan, the students are given the opportunity to sit for placements.