Conclaves, pitching sessions, start-up boot camps, incubators, acceleration programmes, conferences and many more options are available for entrepreneurs to understand their strengths and weaknesses. But what they might not have are informal circles and day-outs where they can just chill with a few fellow founders while learning from each other and benefitting from contacts and networks within the circle.
To bridge this gap, Scomm India was started in Bhubaneswar. With Sourabh Khandelwal (Co-founder and CEO of Trag Sales4You) as its President; Nihar Panda (Co-founder and COO of Skyy Rider Institutions) as Vice-President and Zahid Akathar (Co-founder of Onelife) as Advisor, they registered Scomm India in November 2019 and since then, they have been conducting monthly meetings in each of their member start-ups' office, on a rotational basis, to share problems and brainstorm solutions. "The start-up culture in Odisha is still catching up and sometimes, start-ups here fail because of a lack of network. We want to establish these connections between start-ups so that we can help each other solve our problems," explains Sourabh.
While they've only been in existence for the past 3 months, the latest on them is that on February 20, twenty five of their member start-ups organised Entrepreneurs Day Out where they travelled to Chilika Lake and spent the day there. "We are all start-ups and we understand each other's challenges and through collaboration, we want to mitigate them," explains Sourabh. With the aim to do something different, Scomm India made the arrangements for the day out in just three days.
A textile start-up sponsored the T-shirts, another took care of the restaurants they were going to eat at and so on - each contributed in their own way. "Every individual sponsored something or the other — from food to travel — and we were able to pull it off," says the 23-year-old. The trip also included a visit to the nearby ODIART Centre, a boat ride to one of the islands near Chilika where they played antakshari and other games, lit a bonfire and amidst all this, had intense discussions about the start-up ecosystem of Odisha and how they can develop it and create a culture of entrepreneurship in Odisha. Following the success of the day out, they plan on conducting an Entrepreneurs Day Out every six months which serves as an avenue for both chilling and networking.
Thanks to meet-ups like these, start-ups have been able to support each other in ways they would have never been able to before. One example of this is how the start-up Karkhana Makerspace, a community that encourages makers, and Skyy Rider Institutions, a skill development centre, collaborated to share staff and skills. One aspect to note about this community is that anyone even with an inclination to start a start-up can join them to learn. While there is no membership fee, one is required to fill out an online application to become a member.
Agenda of Entrepreneurs Day Out:
- Breakfast
- Introductions with a twist
- Visit to the ODIART Centre
- Discussion on connections and how they can help the start-up ecosystem in Odisha
- Lunch
- Boating to an island near Chilika Lake with games and discussions
- Bonfire
- Dinner
Scenes from the day out:
For more on them, check out facebook.com/scommindia
