A MUST ATTEND EVENT!!!

Technopreneur, the Annual Flagship event of Yi net at Model Engineering College, Kochi: Into its 5th year: What started as a "seemingly impossible" dream for a couple of students 4 years ago, has culminated into the most looked forward Yi Net event by students and members across the entry, with attendance growing dramatically, and the quality of speakers astonishing year after year!
For the 1st time this year, Technopreneur is also introducing Sociopreneur: Entrepreneurship with a social cause!
Most Exciting, Rewarding, and an excellent learning experience!
I would recommend all to attend, and make the most of the day on Feb 20th'2010!

Mala Patodia,
Yi National Student Nets Chair, 2009/2010

A Promise Well Kept !

Technopreneur 2010 is living up to its promise! In the quest for creating a smarter, brighter India and awakening minds across the country, we have taken our first giant step! We can now confirm that Mr. Sam Pitroda will be one of the many speakers who will lead you down the journey of self-discovery on the landmark day of February 20th!

SAM PITRODA (Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda) is one of India's most celebrated entrepreneurs. He has been an advisor to three union governments on various issues and is widely credited with having engineered the communications revolution in the country. He is also the founder and CEO of C-SAM Inc., which has offices in London, Tokyo, Mumbai and Vadodara and its headquarters in Chicago.

Born in Titlagarh, Orissa, he graduated from Maharaja Savajirao University in Vadodara before completing his Masters in Electrical Engineering from Illinois University. His research in telecommunications and hand-held computing led to the invention of the electronic diary.

Having founded his first company, Wescom Switching, he went on to develop the 580 DSS switch, which rose to become one of the most successful in the market.

His fame has grown in his role as advisor to three Union governments. He first pioneered the growth of the telecom industry in the country, introducing the Public Call Offices(PCOs) which allowed people to make easy and affordable phone calls, both domestic and international, through a wide network of public telephones spread out across the country. This succesful stint was followed by an appointment as the head of the Knowledge Commission in 2004. His recommendations are in part, considered to have driven the modernisation drive in our education system today! In July 2009, he was appointed as Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Infrastructure and Innovations, with the rank of Cabinet Minister.

Already a Padma Bhushan Awardee and a recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Global Indian award, he is one of the most sought-after public speakers in the world!

We, the organising committee of Technopreneur, are proud to announce that Mr. Pitroda has agreed to grace our prestigious event through a 40 minute video conference, with the hope of inspiring our audience to reach the same heights as he has in both his professional and public life!

To get an additional glimpse of Mr. Pitroda's accomplishments, and why we at Technopreneur are so excited to have him on board, visit the following links :

SAM PITRODA : WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE
SAM PITRODA : KNOWLEDGE COMMISSON PROFILE
SAM PITRODA'S TAKE ON INDIA'S FUTURE

SOCIOPRENEUR : Catalysts for Change!

India is a country of great diversity, but as much as we may admire its varied heritage and culture, so too must we recognize the great complexity of the problems it faces. We live in a world riddled with contradictions : the wealth and prosperity of a few accompanies the destitution of many others. With poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and other social ails still staining our nation's report sheet of the past 60 years of independence, the time is ripe for society as a whole to heal its own wounds rather than merely implore local governments to tend to our every need.

Each of us has their conscience pricked by the articles in our daily newspaper! News of declining sex ratios, reports of farmers forced to take their own lives owing to the debts they are ultimately ensnared in, tales of young children brimming with immeasurable potential which remains forever untapped thanks to a state machinery incapable of supporting them : the outpouring of sympathy is inherently natural! We dream of leaders and stalwarts who share our own sense of outrage and dismay at the issues we see plague our nation, but with the power and gumption to make a difference! Though our own moral base and skill set projected on another seem sufficient to help pioneer the social revolution we seek, why do so few of us listen to our own hearts to help realize the visions we often wax lyrical about? Why do we shrug them off as our dreams, rather than our responsibilities? Why are organisations such as Make a Difference and Help Age India the exception rather than the norm?

At Sociopreneur 2010, we challenge you to rise to the occasion for your fellow man as your conscience must have pleaded you to so often before. At IMA Hall on the 20th of February, 2010, will be conducted a social entrepreneurship competition unlike any other event held before in Kerala! Participants from across Kerala, and indeed, across the whole of South India shall present their blueprints for the India they envision, and the work to be done to attain it! IMA Hall shall be the breeding ground where participants nurture their plans for a sustainable social venture targetting a core problem whose solution, they feel, at hand! On the line will not only be the tag of being the ultimate "SOCIOPRENEUR", but also a cash prize of Rs. 10,000.

Participation is open to all Indian citizens, and participants may register in groups of upto 5 persons. Participants are expected to prepare a summary of their proposed social venture (not exceeding 600 words) and mail it to sociopreneur@technopreneur.in on or before the 10th of February, 2010 . Innovation as well as the social impact that the venture creates shall earn most points, while the financial sustainability of the project proposed will also be a factor in the final evaluation! An eminent panel of judges shall then shortlist the many entries received to obtain a list of 6 finalists, who will then participate in the final round at IMA Hall, Kochi, on the 20th of February. Each team will be allotted a sum total of 20 minutes to present their idea before the judges in the quest to earn the tag of the very first 'SOCIOPRENEUR(S)' !

For further details, readers are encouraged to visit the Sociopreneur home website. Participants can also contact the in-charges for the event :

Samir Madhavan - +919995116815
Joel Mathew - +919048546746