The 11th Business Seminar by deAsra Foundation was organised at Dewang Mehta Auditorium, of Persistent Systems Ltd, Senapati Bapat Road, on Friday 4th March 2016. Over 146 participants attended this event.
Pradnya Godbole, Chief Executive Officer at deAsra Foundation spoke on how deAsra Foundation supports entrepreneurs who wants to Start or Grow their business. Speaking on the occasion she said, “We assist all aspiring entrepreneurs in all stages of their business from idea to execution. Our Foundation’s assistance is available throughout all the stages of the business- viz. Plan, start, fund, set-up, market and after they start their business”. Roopali Shrishrimal from deAsra Foundation explained the concept of Udyog Mitra who is personally present in all the stages to handhold and guide the entrepreneur and stays with him till his business starts delivering continuous profits.
Sandesh Deshmukh, a deAsra enabled entrepreneur, present at the seminar, narrated his entrepreneurial journey. A software professional with experience in large IT companies like Wipro and Tech Mahindra, foreign stints for client projects and a stable income, started his entrepreneurial journey. He chose the laborious world of dairy products and started making paneer (cottage cheese). He undertook a course in milk product processing offered by Maharashtra Center for Entrepreneurship Development (MCED), an initiative of Government of Maharashtra for skill development. At the end of his course, deAsra Foundation was invited to speak to all the MCED Students, in that interaction he realised the exact institute who would help him with the next steps.
The equipment required for his business was expensive, hence, he conducted an indepth research on how to make it affordable via innovation. A thorough research on Youtube, gave him an innovative idea to develop a cost effective technique. After continuous experiments over 4 months he developed a low cost machine for the production of paneer. The entire machinery which would have ideally costed him four lakh rupees, his research and innovation made it possible in Rs. 25,000. Within 10 months of starting his venture he is producing and selling 200 kgs of paneer every day. 100 kgs of this is sent to Andhra Pradesh. Sandesh now awaits second disbursement of loan, which he has applied for under the guidance of his mentors from deAsra Foundation.
Mrs. Supriya Trimbake of deAsra Foundation explained the holistic vision of deAsra Foundation- to support many more Sandeshs. She assured the audience that irrespective of the aspiring entrepreneurs’ background, with guidance and handholding from deAsra nothing can stop them to become successful entrepreneurs.
Vijay Khunekari, a Pune based photographer who was present at the event said, “This is a great initiative of Dr. Anand Deshpande and I am glad I came to know about it. I hope to get some additional guidance to grow in my profession.”