Kolkata, June 2023: Indian Chamber of Commerce organised the BIMSTEC Start-Up Forum on Thursday, 15th June at the Hyatt Regency. With BIMSTEC member countries accounting for 22% of the world’s population, this forum aims to provide a platform for start-ups to connect with leading ecosystem partners, foster co-creation, and drive growth within the Bay of Bengal Initiative The theme of the panel discussion was “BIMSTEC Start-up Ecosystem: Creating value for Customers, Investors and the Economy”. Many esteemed guests attended the forum like Mr. J B Pany, Chairman, ICC Odisha State Council, Shri Debashis Sen, IAS (Retd), Managing Director, WBHIDCO Ltd, Mr. Manjit Kumar Nayak, Director, STPI, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India, Mr. Ravi Narasimham, Director, Investments, Caspian Impact Investment Adviser Private Limited, India, Mr. Rajarshi Ghosh, Head, Economic Affairs & Policy, ICC, Dr. Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, India, Mr. Worakan Kosolpisitkul – Director of the Competitiveness Enhancement Division, Md. Moniruzzaman Khan, Head of Digital Business, Green Delta Insurance, Bangladesh, Mr. Rikesh Gurung, Founder & MD, The Green Road, Bhutan, Mr. Nalin Jayaraj Welgama, Founder & Executive Chairman, Ideal Group, Sri Lanka, Ms Juna Mathema, Chairperson, Startup & Innovation Forum, FNCCI Nepal, Ms. Chuencheewan Ananthothai, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Globish Committee at Thai Startup Association, Globish Academia (Thailand) Co., Dr. Tej Chingtam, CEO, Atal Incubation Centre SMUTBI, India, Syed Sadat Almas Kabir, MD, AyAl Corp Limited, Bangladesh.
The BIMSTEC Start-Up Forum offered a great chance for companies to network with influential ecosystem partners in the area. This forum sought to assist start-ups in developing, innovating, and having a significant effect on their respective industries by encouraging collaboration, knowledge sharing, and co-creation. Participants took part in discussions, networking events, and industry expert’s and successful entrepreneurs’ perspectives. The forum acted as a catalyst for establishing connections among entrepreneurs, encouraging teamwork, and utilising the many capabilities of the BIMSTEC ecosystem.
- It was mentioned by a delegate that India is showing steady growth in the start-up sector. In the PRARAMBH start-up summit, 1200 Indian start-ups are focusing on deep tech like AI, blockchain, etc. India is leading in the Fintech sector and India is the tech innovation hub.
- 81% of youth are using digital mediums and have also developed a skill set. Social entrepreneurs are changing the community which is a good thing. Also, the sector-specific start-up is important.
- BIMSTEC should create a common forum for supporting and developing start-ups for all nations.
- It was suggested that BIMSTEC should create a common forum for supporting and developing start-ups for all the member nations
- It was mentioned by a delegate that G20 countries have shown interest in India’s UPI system and also the Aadhar card linking system. India’s 43 unicorns and general start-ups are supporting India’s start-up ecosystem framework.
- City governance and public services are being helped by start-up opportunities and creating synergy among them.
- A delegate gave an example of a start-up that created a robotic arm for cleaning manhole sewers in smart city New Town, Kolkata that will help save the lives of people entering the manhole.
- It was mentioned by a delegate that 90,000 start-ups are registered in DPIIT, India is ranked No. 3 in the world producing start-ups. 40% of these start-ups are started by women. The Indian government is supporting youth and women entrepreneurs. 9. 2 lakh jobs have been created in various sectors. IT, Healthcare, and Education are leading sectors for start-ups.
- It was suggested that governments must support the start-up culture and a portal for start-ups by the government should be created that will have all the information required for their start-up.
- Gross border venture capital collection for technology is possible and globalisation has increased. There is a possibility of saturation of the investment market that all the nations should do.
- For FVC ( foreign venture capitalist) investment local partnership in countries is required. FVCs need to understand the geographical nature of the country they are investing in. For FVCs to work there need to be multiple players in the market.
- Governments need to simplify regulations for FVCs and need to add incentives. Incubators and accelerators need to promote start-ups, it is needed to make the start-ups attractive.
- FVCs usually come in Series A but they need to invest in start-ups. Government should help start-ups with lobbying.
- It was suggested by a delegate that BIMSTEC should have a common fund that all the nations can access.