TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2008, Asia’s Largest Entrepreneurial Summit Begins

Theme of TES 2008 is ‘Inclusive Entrepreneurship’

Bangalore, December 16, 2008: TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2008 (www.tiesummit.org), Asia’s largest summit for entrepreneurs, commenced at the Lalit Ashok Hotel with a welcome note by serial entrepreneur Pradeep Kar, President, TiE Bangalore & Chairman & Managing Director, Microland followed by an inaugural address by Azim H Premji, Chairman, Wipro. Addressing the 1500 delegates who attended the first day, Premji remarked that the turnout was an indicator of the enthusiasm entrepreneurs have and it “speaks well for the future of India.”

Premji spoke about entrepreneurship through the journey of Wipro and the cultures that create fertile ground for entrepreneurs. “Integrity and unflinching commitment to values is what builds the backbone for a strong business,” Premji remarked.

Addressing the packed gathering Pradeep Kar observed that India in 1991 had moved from the Nehruvian philosophy of the state being an entrepreneur to the idea of private entrepreneurship resulting in accelerated industrial growth. Said Kar, “Today, entrepreneurs are at the forefront of building a new India. An India that is prosperous, healthy, secure, peaceful and continues with a sustainable growth path.”

Thanking the delegates and speakers, Kar said, “TES 2008 has been enabled through the support of time, money and commitment of India’s best known entrepreneurs and business leaders: Azim Premji, C K Prahalad, Nandan Nilekani, Vijay Mallya, R Gopalakrishnan, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Capt Gopinath amongst several other Indian entrepreneurs who have spontaneously stepped forward to support the summit.”

In a message to TES 2008, Nandan M Nilekani, Co-chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited, said, “TES 2008 is the pre-eminent gathering of entrepreneurs in India. Businessmen in India have gone from being seen as ‘dark and evil forces’ in the seventies to ‘the source of India’s confidence’ in this decade. India now has the most varied set of entrepreneurs large and small from diverse backgrounds. This entrepreneurial capital has been a critical ingredient in the cocktail of ideas propelling India to a better imagined future. TES 2008 celebrates that in great and abundant measure.”

TES 2008 brings together a dazzling array of over 135 speakers across 43 sessions, 13 stellar plenary sessions, 22 high-powered panel discussions and 8 supremely inspiring “My Story” sessions. The summit is complemented by 400+ entrepreneurs getting insight and direction into their plans in 70 hours of exclusive one-on-one and many-to-one mentoring through the gurus of entrepreneurship and exclusive networking opportunities right across the three days.TES 2008 believes it is redefining the way entrepreneurs across the world are perceived – not just as cultivators of new thoughts and ideas, but the very essence of what helps manage economic slowdowns through experimentation and innovation.

Talking about the importance of TES 2008, Executive Director, Tata Sons Limited, remarked, “The idea behind TES 2008 is of critical importance to India’s future because we need job creators and not merely job seekers. Indian psychological and social traditions have always been entrepreneurial and there are very few societies which have managed to nurture their tradition over 2000 years the way India has done.”

This tradition of nurturing entrepreneurs just received a boost with TES 2008 where the theme was ‘Inclusive Entrepreneurship’. The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), who are globally known for their contribution in propagating technology entrepreneurship, have for the first time brought together stalwarts from diverse industrial sectors such as clean tech, healthcare, manufacturing, media and entertainment, microfinance, real estate, retail and social entrepreneurship on to a common platform in this year’s summit. Over 1500 delegates comprising of successful and aspiring entrepreneurs, government and NGO policy makers, educationist and business leaders registered for the summit. Three tracks on Entrepreneurship, Technology and Beyond IT focusing on varied entrepreneurial topics were held simultaneously bringing together leading industry thought leaders under one roof.

Renowned industry leaders such as Nandan Nilekani, Co-chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited along with R Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director of Tata Sons discussed and reflected on “Imagining India” in a special panel discussion hosted by Shereen Bhan, Delhi Bureau Chief and Executive Editor of CNBC TV 18. Panel discussions on topics featuring prominent industry names such as Captain G R Gopinath of Air Deccan, Pravin Gandhi, former TiE Mumbai President and Director of Seedfund, Sridar Iyengar, President TiE Mumbai, Ravi Uppal, former member of the Group Executive Committee of ABB Ltd., Rajiv Sahney, Founder and Managing Partner of New Vernon Advisors added to the invaluable insights at the summit.

Leaders who gave first hand insights into their own powerful success stories at the summit were Venkatesh Rajagopal, Chairman and Managing Director of Celebrity Fashions, Manish

Sabharwal, Chairman and Co-founder of Team Lease Services, Nirmal Jain, Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of India Infoline and K Ganesh, Founder and CEO of TutorVista.

TES 2008 also features a one-to-one mentoring track that witnessed an enthusiastic response. More than 130 mentoring sessions are scheduled to take place across the three days of the summit. In addition, interactive sessions such as Guru Talk (one-to-many interaction between budding and iconic entrepreneurs) were held and well received with key names such as R Gopalakrishnan, Executive Director, Tata Sons Ltd, Desh Deshpande, Co-founder & Chairman of Sycamore Networks, Kanwal Rekhi, Managing Director, Inventus Capital Partners, and Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Managing Director & CEO, InfoEdge India participating, drawing from their rich experience to assist attendees.

The first day saw the release of the TiE-KPMG report on the entrepreneurial ecosystem by Pradip Kanakia, National Head of Markets, KPMG with the aspiring entrepreneurs as participants drawing references to the key study insights. This was followed by a brief address by Hon. Apurv Bagri, Chairman of the Board, TiE Global.

The grand finale of the day was Dr.Vijay Mallya, Chairman, UB Group with his well-received session on “Inspiring India” highlighting the key role of corporations in the betterment of society.

“This summit provides a platform for interaction between the global and Indian industries so as to enhance entrepreneurial development. We are extremely happy to see the overwhelming response and hope that participants derive the maximum benefit from the summit” said Bringi Dev, Executive Director of TiE Bangalore.

The summit continues over the next two days with engaging sessions by Dr Carl Schramm, President & CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, Scott Cook, Founder & Chairman of the Executive Committee of Intuit Inc, Dr. R K Pachauri, Director General, TERI, Som Mittal, President NASSCOM, S Gopalakrishnan, CEO & MD, Infosys Technologies Litd, a Plenary Panel Discussion on Microfinance – Empowering the next Million chaired by Rohini Nilekani, Chairperson & Founder, Arghyam, and the CNBC TV 18 Panel Discussion on `Igniting India’ featuring Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson & MD, Biocon India Ltd, Ramesh Ramanathan Co-Founder, Janaagraha, Capt G R Gopinath, CEO, Air Deccan.

About TiE

The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) (www.tie.org) is a global not-for-profit organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship. TiE helps budding entrepreneurs by way of advice, guidance and assistance from successful & experienced entrepreneurs and professionals. There are currently more than 12,600 members and over 1,800 charter members in 52 chapters across 11 countries.

About TiE Bangalore Chapter

The TiE Bangalore Chapter (www.tiebangalore.org) is the largest Indian TiE Chapter and amongst the top five largest TiE Chapters in the world, with around 850+ Associate Members and over 130 Charter Members. The TiE Bangalore Governing Council comprises of industry leaders such as Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon, Ashok Soota of MindTree, Dr Sridar Mitta of e4e, Pradeep Kar of Microland, B V Naidu Group CEO, Vanpic Ports Pvt Ltd and Poornima Jairaj Executive Trustee Amber Valley Residential School.

For further information, please contact:

Bringi Dev, Executive Director,

TiE Bangalore Chapter:

+91 98 440 84873

bringidev {at} tiebangalore(.)org

Vidhya Arvind,

The Practice:

+91 93 791 68989

vidhya {at} the-practice(.)net