Members of Jaipuria Indore’s E-Cell, better known as the E-Spark Club, went over to the Acropolis Institute of Technology for a session with the National Entrepreneurship Network, popularly known as NEN. The workshop on ‘E-Leaders’ had a total of 74 participants from across the Indore region.

6 members of the E-Spark club represented Jaipuria Institute of Management, Indore, at this E-Leaders workshop. Ms. Vishnu Priya, Senior Manager NEN, was the resource person for the two days of workshop, along with Ms. Marlina Ramachandran, Regional Coordinator NEN.

Day One of the workshop began with ice-breaking activities, which helped students from various colleges familiarise themselves with one another. This was followed by a session with Ms. Vishnu Priya where the agenda of the workshop was set. She briefed the group about the ecosystem in which NEN works, and the role of an E-cell. She also laid out various functions like regularising programmes, maintaining leaders’ lists, campus activities, inviting local entrepreneurs to campus events, etc., which E-cells should carry out. She followed all this up with some thoughts on the process of institutionalising the E- Cell.

After the tea break, E-cells from various colleges made their DNA Pitch Reports. The E-Spark club of Jaipuria made its presentation on their Social Entrepreneurship initiatives.

“It was interesting to note how mature E-cells worked,” remarked Gaurav Kumar, one of the Jaipuria Indore students at this workshop. “We learnt a lot by observing how other E-cells make the most of available NEN Resources to nurture and groom entrepreneurial talent on their campuses.”

The post-lunch session was about challenges faced by various E-cells, and how they were addressed. There were discussions around ‘campus companies’. The E-Cell of the IPS Academy, in fact, distributed one of their products amongst all the participants – a unique notepad made out of recycled paper from waste in their college. Towards the end of Day 1, the NEN trainers distributed a case study from Harvard Business Review on Level-5 Leadership.

“Day 2 began with a recap of day 1”, recollects Priyanka Sharma, one of the participants from Jaipuria Indore. “It was followed by a discussion on ‘Fortune 500’ companies and listing of the 11 best companies amongst them. It was pointed out that the common factor in these 11 was that level 5 leaders held critical positions in them. This flowed into the discussion on level 5 leaders and their two traits – humility and professional will.”

Having addressed the Harvard Business Review case study, the NEN workshop then focused on basic qualities of E-cell leaders. A very entertaining ‘jigsaw puzzle’ method was then employed by the NEN team to bring out the need of teamwork and communication in E-cells.

Gaurav Mishra, one of the E-Leaders present, discussed the essentials of event management. The day ended with videos on entrepreneurs negotiating with venture capitalists on their products.

“It was fantastic to note that as leaders of Entrepreneurship Cells on campus, NEN E Leaders drive a wide, critical range of tasks and activities; from motivating and engaging student members, to conducting mega events and programmes to help connect their E Cell members to the right resources in the community,” concluded Abhishek Pratap Singh, one of the representatives of the E-cell of Jaipuria Indore. “The workshop made us hungrier to learn and build rather than passively receive education. We were able to see a lot of scope to experiment with entrepreneurship in the Jaipuria Indore campus itself!”

Undoubtedly, the 2-day NEN workshop brought back the spark in Jaipuria Indore’s E-spark Club!