Chennai : Great Lakes Institute of Management, one of the leading B-schools in India, founded by Professor Bala V. Balachandran organized its third Entrepreneurship Conference under the aegis of Orchid Pharma Center for Excellence in Technology, Innovation and Technopreneurship (OPCET) to further the cause of free & private enterprises. Dr. Dan Papp, President, Kennesaw State University inaugurated the one day conference, here today. Shri B.S.Raghavan, IAS (rtd), former chief secretary WB and Shri Thyagarajan, Founder, Shriram Group were present at the conference. Mr. Mohan Lakhamraju, Director, Educomp; Professor Dr.A.K.Rao, (Ex.ISB), Founder; Mr. Kishore, Founder, Everonn Group of companies are some of the other speakers at the conference.

The theme of the conference was “Entrepreneurship in Education”. The 3rd International Entrepreneurship Conference held at the Great Lakes campus focused on the Entrepreneurial opportunities in Indian Education, which looked into various facets of Indian Education.

During the conference there were a number of topics discussed, one of them was on the higher education segment which constitutes 22% of the education system and has seen tremendous growth in the last decade. Few renowned higher education institutes in India are indeed making the world turn its attention towards India with the quality of education they impart. In spite of about 26,213 higher education institutes, the demand for quality higher education is outstripping the supply and there is a mammoth opportunity in this space. While the higher education segment is developing at an incredible rate, the same cannot be said by the K-12 segment. While India is predicted to be the world leader in population, the illiteracy rate is at an alarming rate of 61%. Despite the Government’s willingness to spend, the Government schooling system has failed due to inefficiency with only 37% of net enrollment. Government’s various initiatives such as “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan” and initiatives of Private – Public partnerships would help to curb this critical issue. There is a window of opportunity for private players in this space and truly can make a difference.

The 3rd International Entrepreneurship Conference focused on the entrepreneurial opportunities in Indian Education and looked into various facets of Indian Education, and show-cased the various successes as inspiring illustration. The conference also enquired into other innovative models in education both from an opportunity and from the addressing a need perspective.

Dr. Bala V. Balachandran, Founder & Dean, Great Lakes Institute of Management said, “There is a strong need for entrepreneurial ventures in the city today.” He stressed on the need for a focused MBA program for entrepreneurship in the various sectors in the country. He added, “Entrepreneurship is at the heart of economic growth of any nation, and India must also create and nurture entrepreneurs in large numbers to reach the global economic leadership status that it is expecting to achieve. In this endeavor business schools have a significant role to play, by developing and disseminating the requisite knowledge, models, methods and processes, besides training and developing entrepreneurs.”