Rohan Dighe's Official Blog

First Lessons in Business

// March 15th, 2010 // Press

By the time engineering students pass out of college, they will be ready to start up their business ventures, as they get valuable tips in entrepreneurship at their institute itself

Posted On Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 11:22:47 PM

Instead of becoming job seekers, engineering students in the city are dreaming to become job creators. National Entrepreneurship Network is guiding them to start their own business ventures.

Recently, an Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp, supported and sponsored by Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), was organised by Maharashtra Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (MCED) at the Pimpri-Chinchwad College of Engineering (PCCOE).

Seventeen first-year engineering students of PCCOE are currently working as eLeaders (entrepreneurship leaders) and creating awareness among students about entrepreneurship. They also organised an eWeek at their college.

Rohan Dighe, a 24-year-old engineer and director of the start-up Social Web Factory, is a role model for students aspiring to be job creators. He had initially started a service-based company. Now, along with providing services, his venture is also developing web products.

Dighe spoke to Mirror  on his business venture.  “I passed out of college in 2007. When I was a student, we hardly thought of entrepreneurship.

But after the recession, the efforts of MCED and EDI are more noticed. Initially, I worked for six months in a company and earned some money to start  a small venture. Within a year, we earned a profit of Rs 15 lakh.

Then I even employed six people to work with me. We got few international clients too. Initially my company was into web applications for community social games on networking sites. Now we are also into product development.”

Diwakar Keskar, Regional Head of MCED said, “We want to promote entrepreneurship among students  through such events. We also arrange industrial visits for students to know the processes in business. We also invite industrialists to talk about their experience and encourage students.”

Prof Shitalkumar Rawandale of PCCOE who is co-ordinating the entrepreneurship programme, said “We have to create more opportunities and a conducive environment for fresh engineers who want to opt for a career in entrepreneurship.

The students who want to become entrepreneurs after working for a couple of years, should consider jobs in small-scale industries where they will get exposure to work  in all areas like finance, marketing, operations, HR etc.”