Ahmedabad, November 9, 2022: Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), Ahmedabad celebrated National Entrepreneurship Day on November 9, 2022, at the EDII campus. Students, startups, and new-age entrepreneurs from Gujarat participated in the event. The theme of the celebration was school entrepreneurship, given that young minds are the future of the country. The entire event was planned with the objective of encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship among students. Apart from the motivational address, a psychometric test was administered to students to assess their entrepreneurial competence.

Prof. (Dr.) Toolika Gupta, Director, Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, Jaipur graced the event as the Chief Guest. Mr. Abhishek Jain, Director & Co-Founder at Naapbooks Limited was the Guest of Honour. Mr. Abhishek Jain’s startup is the only one from Gujarat to be listed in the IPO. His startup has been incubated at EDII’s incubator, CrAdLE.

A major highlight of the program was a selection of viable business ideas from the entries invited by students of Ahmedabad’s various schools.

Ideas from three schools of Ahmedabad were selected on the parameters of innovation, viability and technical strength. These were awarded for best business ideas. These included Delhi Public School, Bopal; Delhi Public School, Gandhinagar, and Shree Narayan Central School.

Around 400 school students participated in the event.

Addressing the gathering, Prof. (Dr.) Toolika Gupta Director, the Indian Institute of Crafts and Design, Jaipur said, “India is a land of craft, skills, competencies and a high entrepreneurial inclination. We need to show a direction to entrepreneurial minds, which is where entrepreneurship education becomes critical. I encourage young people to exhibit an entrepreneurial approach to addressing the problems around them. When it comes to nurturing good ideas, training young people, and supporting them to help them become successful new-age entrepreneurs, EDII is doing incredible work for which I appreciate their efforts. I am happy to collaborate with EDII so that students of my institute get the necessary training.”

On the occasion, Dr. Sunil Shukla, Director General, EDII, Ahmedabad, said, “Today young students are quite aware and often think out-of-the-box. A little handholding and direction can orient them to entrepreneurial values and competencies that can give them the required thrust toward entrepreneurship. EDII is happy to be a part of accelerating the country’s culture of startups and entrepreneurship by providing potential entrepreneurs with the right skill sets to help them move forward on the path of new enterprise creation and management.”

Mr. Abhishek Jain, Director & Co-founder, Naapbooks Ltd, thanked EDII for nurturing his startup and extending all the required support for taking it where it is today. Mr. Jain traced his entrepreneurial journey and brought out the challenges that he faced, and the solutions that he implemented. He highlighted how several times he had thought about quitting but holding on, ultimately turned out to be rewarding. His story instilled grit and perseverance among students while at the same time answering several of their queries.

The event gave the students, in-depth exposure to various aspects of entrepreneurship. An open house with academicians also brought forth the requirements and the implementations needed towards widescale promotion of entrepreneurship among students.