TiECON nurturing entrepreneurial spirit in Chennai

Chennai:

The sixth edition of TiECON Chennai got off to a dazzling start with Mallika Srinivasan, chief executive officer of Tractor and Farms Equipment Limited being presented with the lifetime achievement award at TiECON Chennai 2013.

Dr S S Badrinath, founder of Shankar Nethralaya, honoured Mallika Srinivasan, an MBA from Wharton and a lady who was instrumental in transforming the tractor business in the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Mallika Srinivasan, highlighted how she adopted a different business model that could suit her traditional family as well as her buiness. “The world is full of constraints. It is to know with which constraints you can work with and what you can’t change,” said the businesswoman, who has been bestowed with innumerable awards.

She also went down memory lane while pointing out how the entrepreneurship spirit was kept alive in 60s and 70s of Chennai with businesses encouraging each other. She felt that TiEcon is reviving the entrepreneurial spirit of the era,

M Mahadevan, chairman of Oriental cuisines was honoured with Dronacharya award during the occasion. Speaking about the turbulent journey of 1980s from Udumalpet, the foodie, professor, restaurateur and entrepreneur said he came to the city with only Rs 400 and attributed to the success in believing in himself. He dedicated the award to the city.

R Chellappan, executive director of Swelect Energy Systems Limited was presented with Entrepreneur of the Year award while the founders of Magzter, the world's largest and fastest growing cross platform global digital magazine store and newsstand, were honoured with ‘Most innovative Entrepreneur Award’. The founders include Girish Ramdas, Gautam ramdas, C R Venkatesh and Vijaykumar Radhakrishnan.

The extraordinary entrepreneur award was bagged by Auromatrix Hotels founders – Kumar Sitaraman and Udday Kumar Krishnan while managing director of Capricorn Foods India Rahoul Jain was presented with emerging entrepreneur award.

The Impact entrepreneur award was given to IFMR Trust while Best tie Associate Member Entrepreneur award was given to founders of Efficys Infotech India Private Ltd (ticketgoose.com).

Interestingly, the event had trade captains besides budding entrepreneurs and students, who were amazed at the unique networking platform created by TiE Chennai as it provided them an opportunity to interact and gain knowledge from various industry leaders, successful entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, regulators, and bankers.

Speaking on the occasion Lakshmi Narayanan, pesident, TiE Chennai congratulated all the winners of TiECON Chennai 2013. “With the awards celebrating its sixth edition this year, I am overwhelmed with the tremendous response we have received from various entrepreneurs across the state. It is very encouraging to see innovative business ideas emerging from the people of Tamil Nadu. India is in need of such aspirational entrepreneurs and TiE Chennai will continue to strengthen the entrepreneurial culture across the state,” he said.

This year’s jury included Gopal Srinivasan - chairman and managing director  TVS Capital (chairman of the jury panel 2013), Dr   Radhakrishnan, state Health Secretary, V. Shankar - founder, Computer Age Management Services India, Dr Sudhir Chella Rajan- Professor & Head, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras and V P Rajini Reddy - managing director, Exemplarr Worldwide Limited.

List of awardees

1.        Lifetime Achievement Award –

Mallika Srinivasan – CEO, Tractor and Farms Equipment Limited

2.        Dronacharya Award –

M Mahadevan - Chairman, Oriental Cuisines

3.        Entrepreneur of the Year –

R Chellappan - Executive Director - Swelect Energy Systems Limited

4.        Most Innovative Entrepreneur –

Girish Ramdas, Gautam Ramdas , C R Venkatesh, and Vijaykumar Radhakrishnan - Founders, Magzter.

5.        Extraordinary  Entrepreneur –

Kumar Sitaraman, Udday Kumar Krishnan - Founders, Auromatrix Hotels Pvt. Ltd.

6.        Emerging Entrepreneur –

Rahoul Jain - Managing Director, Capricorn Foods India Limited

7.        Impact Entrepreneur –

Anil Kumar and Bindu Ananth - Kshetriya Grameen Financial Services, IFMR Trust

8.     Best Tie Associate Member Entrepreneur –

Arunkumar Athiappan, Karthikeyan Easwaramoorthy and Vasedevan Ramasamy - Founders, Efficsys Infotech India Private Limited (Ticketgoose)