IIM Ahmedabad will be holding an Entrepreneurship Fair on 25th September 2011. Encouraged by the overwhelming response to the Fair last year, the Placement Committee is working again with the IIM-A Entre Club and the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) to host this event on campus. This event is aimed at MBA students seeking summer internships at a start-up, to provide them a platform where they can network and learn about the challenges that they may face while setting up their own venture. Through this event we hope to foster the entrepreneurial spirit in students.

CIIE has nurtured many entrepreneurial ventures, and our partnership with them allows us to invite a large number of entrepreneurs across the country. Some start-ups are specifically looking for interns. Rohit Aggarwal, CEO of Khitchdee, says, "I expect the IIM-A Entre fair to be an event where students come to one place to land internships." Whereas others may not only want to generate enthusiasm amongst students, but also understand the new innovative start-ups in the market. Says Mr. Ujwal Makhija, CEO of Phonon, "We were happy to be a part of the Entrepreneurship Fair 2008 and had the good opportunity of a student from IIM-A interning with us in Summer 2009. We are sure it would have been as much a grassroots learning experience for the intern as it was a gain for us during his eight weeks here. Coming after a hiatus of two years, we hope to not only interact with potential interns but also generate enough enthusiasm for a 2012 graduate to want to become a part of Phonon. Interaction with other start-ups and seeing all the innovation around is another aspect of the Entrepreneurship Fair 2011 we look forward to."

The IIM-A Entre Club has also supported this initiative. We have sent invites to other B-schools, so that students can come down and meet not only the start-up firms but also like-minded people. We have received over a 100 registrations from students from other IIMs, SPJIMR, MNIMS, MICA, SIBM, etc. According to Mr. Pranay Gupta, Joint CEO of CIIE, “IIM-A has increasingly become a hub of entrepreneurial activities in India and I think this effort of Entre Fair is a great addition to these activities. We meet quite a few students who are about to graduate and find it hard to choose between entrepreneurship & job. I think this event can be a very good middle path for such students too.”

Non IIM-A students can register themselves for the Entrepreneurship Fair 2011 through our website, http://www.entreiima.com/entrefair-registration.php. Please note that there are limited seats and registration will happen on the first come first served basis. All students would have to adhere to the rules set by their institute’s placement guidelines.