Bangalore : Captains of  industry and leaders of venture  funds   laid out a broad framework for promoting   inclusive entrepreneurship  besides encouraging  start  ups  in diverse  sectors even as they highlighted  the importance of exploiting the available economic environment.

Likewise, the industry big wigs called upon the Confederation of Indian Industry to create mentor groups among its members for helping entrepreneurs in addition to start up panels. They were speaking on “Entrepreneurship as   a growth engine for Karnataka” as part of CII Karnataka’s annual meeting for 2012-13.

The speakers at the largely attended meet included Mr G V Sanjay Reddy, Chairman, CII southern region and Vice Chairman, GVK Industries, Ms Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, CMD, Biocon Ltd, Mr Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education  and Mr Harish Hande, Founder and Managing Director, SELCO India.

According to Mr Reddy, it is imperative for Karnataka and the central government to build the right eco system for entrepreneurs to take advantage of the current economic climate. Despite the apparent slow down, the situation in the country today provides entrepreneurs the right opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

He believed that with the changing times, evidenced from the new economic order and the social world, today’s entrepreneur is well equipped to meet the obvious challenges, following his exposure to the present, even if challenging, environment.

Ms Mazumdar and Mr Hande, on their part underlined the need for inclusive entrepreneurship with appropriate focus on encouraging the disadvantaged, particularly from the rural areas. In this context, Mr Hande wondered how English speaking entrepreneurs appeared to be more successful than their counterparts from rural areas, or those who could not speak English.

It was, therefore, not surprising to see the speakers emphasising the need for creating equal opportunities for the disadvantaged sections of entrepreneurs, more so as Karnataka had immense opportunities for start ups. ”We can create entrepreneurs in rural parts which could easily lead the state to become a soft superpower,” they maintained.

While stressing the importance of reaching the benefits of economic growth to all sections of society, Ms Mazumdar said that entrepreneurial culture was the foundation of dynamic growth which helped in creating and encouraging innovation. Accordingly, with greater inclusive growth, entrepreneurs from Karnataka and the country could become job creators besides promoting self employment.

Speaking on “enabling 1000 start ups,” Mr Pai referred to the significant role that Karnataka could play in this regard as entrepreneurship was the root of economic   development. Appropriately, he commented on the compatibility which Bangalore enjoyed with the Silicon Valley, something that could make it possible for the state to reach exports of over Rs 400,000 crores in the next few years.

While on the subject, he said that as Bangalore’s eco system was ideal for encouraging entrepreneurship, the CII would do well to seriously look at promoting mentor groups. It would be extremely helpful for the hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs who could learn from the experienced industrialists.

In his Concluding remarks, Mr L Krishnan, Chairman, CII Karnataka, noted that entrepreneurship was the key for triggering employment in the state in particular and the country in general.