Awantipora: Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST), and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised a webinar to commemorate the ‘World Entrepreneurs Day’. Renowned entrepreneurs, business and corporate leaders, and people from academia addressed and interacted with the diverse group of participants belonging to different universities, colleges, industry and government departments within and outside the state.
Vice Chancellor IUST, Prof. Mushtaq A Siddiqi, while inaugurating the webinar, stressed upon building a close interaction between Academia, Industry and the Govt. to promote the culture of entrepreneurship in the state in an effective manner. He proposed the establishment of a think-tank comprising of professionals from industry, academia and policy designers which would advise and help both prospective entrepreneurs and decision makers to take
strategic decisions. “There is need for undertaking R&D and incubation activities to promote entrepreneurship within the institutions of higher learning,” Prof. Siddiqi added. Prof. Siddiqi also appreciated the role of Design Innovation Centre of IUST towards Institutional Social Responsibility (ISR) of IUST as it designed and developed
solutions like Low cost Ventilator, Negative Pressure Chamber and specially designed headgear in response to the existing crisis faced by health workers and patients. He emphasised the need to leverage the available talent pool to keep up with the growing requirements of the industry.
Earlier, Dean School of Engineering and Technology, Prof. Ayaz Hassan Moon, in his welcome address impressed upon the local IT professionals to seize various opportunities around for developing low-cost but effective solutions to various societal issues during the existing crisis period. He cited the example of Edu-tech companies at the national level offering solutions in the areas of e-learning, online classes, online assessment and corporate training & collaborations using AI, Augmented reality , Virtual reality, Cloud Technology. Prof. Moon highlighted the challenges faced by the industry to protect their entrepreneurial and scientific knowledge by creating awareness about IPR,
Patents, Copyrights, designs, branding etc among the entrepreneurs. Prof. Moon also highlighted the achievements of EDC and DIC at IUST in the last three year to create some of the success stories in terms of facilitating the establishment of start-ups.
Farooq Amin, CEO, Kanwal Foods Pvt Ltd , and Chairman CII-J&K, enlightened the participants about the choices and opportunities in businesses for the young and promising entrepreneurs. He discussed the importance of having a strategic plan to expand the business within and outside state and even at the global level. “The government should initiate the effective implementation of single window clearance system to facilitate the ease of doing business,” he
added. Amin appreciated the measures taken at IUST towards promotion of entrepreneurship in the region.
While, emphasizing the promotion of food processing units in the state which has over 20 lac metric tonnes of Apple production alone, Dean Research and Head, Food Technology IUST, Prof. H. R. Naik, suggested the ‘establishment of cold storage facilities at tehsil level in the state’. He laid emphasis on the deployment and training of proper manpower particularly quality control engineers working in the food processing units. He mentioned that one percent increase in food business could lead to the direct employment of about five lakh youth even though the food business still in infancy stage.
Dr. Gazala Amin, Managing Director, Red Impex pvt. Ltd and Chairperson (WAKE) spoke at length about the positive stories emerging out of Kashmir, particularly from MSME units at Lassipora and growth of poultry sector in the valley,
despite all the odds. She shared her own experience of being an entrepreneur, particularly highlighting the challenges of women entrepreneurship and how she was successful to overcome the glass ceiling barriers. She demanded a ‘separate Chamber of commerce for women in Kashmir’.
Sarwar Malik, Managing Director of Proactive Premium water, spoke about the challenges faced by young aspiring entrepreneur s and gave a real life glimpse in the working of businesses in the valley. He also pointed out the need to prepare a realistic DPR and a proper market survey before a prospective entrepreneur initiated the industrial activities. He informed about various loan schemes offered by various financial institutions to the entrepreneurs.
Iqkram Ali, Managing Director, SHAFIEE HEALTHCARE talked about the ‘disruptive innovation, incremental innovation and service quality that makes a difference in the businesses’. He encouraged students to be resilient and with positive frame of mind despite usual hiccups experienced by the entrepreneurs.
Dr. Parvez Mir, Director EDC IUST and Khurshid Dar, Head CII Kashmir proposed the vote of thanks and spoke about how IUST has partnered with CII to extend industry knowledge and experience to students .
The participants expressed satisfaction over the seminar and called for more such events in future.

KR Desk