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The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

Rise of an entrepreneurial India

Gunjan Sinha
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Gunjan Sinha
Gunjan Sinha is an Indian-American entrepreneur and business executive. Currently, he serves as a Executive Chairman at Metric Stream. Gunjan has served on the board of various startups in Silicon Valley such as OpenGrowth, DesignEverest, and Regalix. He is the founder of WhoWhere?, an internet search engine. Gunjan is also the co-founder of eGain Corporation, a customer engagement software. Bihar-born Gunjan has completed his B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT and later obtained M.S in Computer Science from University of California, Santa Cruz.

As I reflect on the opportunities for India Inc, having been personally a part of the last 15 years of entrepreneurial wave, I believe India's future lies in the hands of the entrepreneurs! For us to rise and become one of the top global economies, we need the rise of an "entrepreneurial India". This entrepreneurial India will entail developing large networks of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs who are geographically dispersed and yet are able to uniquely leverage their "eco-system" to build businesses, solve social problems, and make a global impact. India has to learn from similar eco-systems like the "Silicon Valley" which have had significant impact on the United State's economy and competitiveness. We need to imagine a "Silicon India" where networks of entrepreneurs, engineers, and venture capitalists are collaborating across the globe to drive the entrepreneurial India. So, what is needed to make all this happen?

Enable a global professional network of Indian professionals
Organizations like TIE and SiliconIndia have set the stage for Indian professionals and entrepreneurs to connect and network with each other in a professional environment. This promotes creation of new business ideas and ventures. As a country we need many more such professional associations that are well capitalized and professionally managed to spur industries and business creations. For example, I recently saw the creation of an SSPA (Service and Support Professional Association) in India for professionals in the tech support arena. Such professional associations are great incubation grounds for new ideas and continuous improvement. As a matter of reference, there are over 27,000 professional associations in the U.S. alone. As a nation, we have to build up the professional network infrastructure.

Knowledge@India
SiliconIndia.com has recently launched online blogging, training videos, and online mentorships for its online members to share their professional knowledge and skills. All of this knowledge is available to any one with a web browser around the world. We need knowledge to be disseminated a lot more universally than to confine it to four walls of the universities or campuses, or even limit it to the desks of the knowledgeable professionals. We need IITs, IIScs, IIMs, and other leading institutions to share their knowledge online with the rest of the professional community. Wharton, Harvard, Stanford, and McKinsey are all creating knowledge banks globally, Indian universities, colleges, and pioneering consulting firms (like TCS and Infosys) need to do the same to spur learning and entrepreneurship.


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