“Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision” ~ Peter F. Drucker
SAKSHAM is the Entrepreneurship Cell of IIM Udaipur. Entrepreneurship is a key element in the cultural fabric of IIM Udaipur. To forward this vision, Saksham endeavours to augment the entrepreneurial capability among the students and enable them to make their ideas into reality.
The vision of the club is to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship in the student community of IIM Udaipur and the society at large by enabling translation of ideas into successful ventures.
Previously, IIM Udaipur has entered into MoUs with TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) and NEN (National Entrepreneurship Network) for a long-term engagement in entrepreneurial activities.
IIMU Incubation Centre is the key enabler of Entrepreneurship at IIM Udaipur. Saksham works closely with IIMU Incubation Centre to serve as a facilitator for students in their journey of Entrepreneurship.
SAKSHAM is directly involved in solving various start-up related issues and give an opportunity to the IIMU student community to work on the real-world problem and provide them a sustainable solution.
SAKSHAM is involved constantly connecting with various venture capitalists and angel investors and acts as a bridge between the investors and the start- ups. In the past, Saksham have collaborated with prominent Investor networks such as Mumbai Angels Network, HostelFund, Key Ventures, SenseAI Ventures etc.
PRARAMBH, the flagship event of SAKSHAM is the only college level B-Plan competition in India which gives a mentorship for approximately two months to select participants. During Prarambh, we connect with various industry stalwarts and successful entrepreneurs to mentor the participants and make them pitch-ready.
Workshops such as Usage and Attitude (U&A) Survey Workshops and Design Thinking and Prototype Development workshops were conducted to give the participants a sense of what all things go into starting up. U&A Workshop aimed at giving the participants an insight into how you conduct an initial market survey to identify if there is even a need of your product/service. The Design Thinking workshop aimed at getting the participants accustomed to the need for innovation in today’s world and techniques to get there.
Prototyping Workshop helped the participants in knowing the importance of prototyping and the ways to go about it.
Since its inception, Saksham has strived to nurture the business and entrepreneurial spirit in the community. So, in the year 2023, Saksham, the Entrepreneurship Cell of IIM Udaipur, in collaboration with the Incubation center, organized ‘The Pathfinder Challenge: Exploring Impossibilities’, an online innovative problem-solving challenge, where teams from all around the country pitched in their business plans to our esteemed judges and gained valuable feedback along with the winners taking away cash prizes.
Saudagar is the annual B-Plan competition of IIM Udaipur, aiming to inculcate the skills of B-Plan formulation among the students. Saudagar had multiple rounds this year, including a Quiz round, B-Plan submission, B-Plan presentation, Auction round and the Final Pitch. The competition helped participants develop innovative business solutions to existing problems and allowed them to present their B-plans to our esteemed judges.
BizViz is the annual case study competition organized by Saksham during Solaris, the Annual management fest of IIM Udaipur. BizViz provides an opportunity to become an entrepreneur and face all the challenges associated with it, for real! It lets students solve real-world problems by applying logic, business acumen, and gut feeling. The case for last year was provided by Ecozen, a leading sustainable tech start-up, with a vision to disrupt the way perishables are handled across the value chain, with clean and innovative technology. The student teams were evaluated by the experienced team of Ecozen.
Aim: To experience the entrepreneurship from the very beginning by selling food items inside campus. Staring from planning for logistics, operations, to making the item ourselves.
Event: It is a new initiative started by Saksham to provide its members a hands-on experience at starting their own enterprise and learning about how to run a business. This leads to learning about operational issues, marketing, financing, leadership and other such skills and how to apply them to start a small business.
The purpose of 'Biz, Buzz & Chuckles’ is to create a relaxed and informal environment for our student community to come together and discuss innovative business ideas. It is an opportunity for our students to brainstorm, exchange thoughts, and learn from one another. The event consists of idea presentations, open discussions and expert insights.
One of the core objectives of Saksham is to promote the spirit of entrepreneurship among the students and provide them with the right resources to support them in their ventures. In order to facilitate this, it is crucial for the student start-ups to emphasize on strong groundwork and focus on answering the following key questions:
Saksham invited eminent personalities from time to time for guest talks to campus. Rohit Jaiswal – Co-Founder, Bombay Shaving Company, Upasana Makati – Founder, White Print, Rishabh Verdia – TiE Udaipur, Gaurav Mantri - Founder, Cerebrata Cynapta, Mahavir Pratap Sarma - Global Board Member, TiE, Pranay Gupta - CIIE Member, Founder - 91springboard, are some who have graced us with their presence.
The best way to learn something is to get hands-on experience with it. With this objective in mind, Saksham organizes Balicha Haat, a place to showcase entrepreneurial skills.
BALICHA HAAT is a marketplace where students can sell, buy, earn and become the hottest entrepreneur on campus. Students can sell anything with their own resources and skill-set. (Food items, Art Craft, Merchandise, Gaming stall etc.)
Saksham, in association with the Incubation centre of IIM Udaipur, launched its podcast series. The podcast aims to spark and develop the entrepreneurial spirit in the young minds of undergraduate and postgraduate students. The podcast series revolves around the real-time stories of starting their entrepreneurial journey from the founder of companies like Bombay Shaving Company, Tempawala, Prodigy, etc.
E-Summit is a platform that helps students to interact with successful entrepreneurs personally and get inspired by their words.
With this aim, Saksham organized the second E-Summit at IIM Udaipur in 2023, hosting successful entrepreneurs who shared their inspirational journey with the students and ignited a spark among the students to consider entrepreneurship as a career path.
Prarambh, the Startup fest of IIM Udaipur, Saksham’s flagship start-up conclave, helps students’ ideas transform into working business models through expert mentorship and bring them to fruition by providing an opportunity to develop their prototypes, conduct market testing, and pitch the plan in front of real investors.
Prarambh started as a 32-hour start-up challenge & it got shaped into a 6-week mentorship and pitching event due to the immense response it received.
The event accepts applications from existing start-ups with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP).
Rohit Jaiswal Co-founder PGP 2012-14
Akshay Jhinga Co-founder & CEO PGP 2011-13 (Pioneer batch)
Ritu Singh CEO at Elawoman PGP 2012-2014
Sandeep Rana, Co-Founder PGP 2012-14
Angad Singh Abrol Co-Founder & CEO PGP 2013-15 batch
Gaurav Agarwal Partner PGP 2017-19
Rutvi Solanki Co-Founder 2013-15 batch
Amit Hanspal & Hemant Chandak Co-Founder PGP 2015-17
Darpan Saxena Co-Founder PGP 2017-19
Amarpal Singh Founder 2013-15 batch
Stuti Agrawal PGP 2013-15
