Sadhukha Visiting Professor of Industrial Economics Endowment

Mr. Pasupati Sadhukha,

Founder, Sadhukha Visiting Professor of Industrial Economics Endowment

Mr. Pasupati Sadhukha, an alumni of the Chemistry Department of erstwhile Presidency College, had given an endowment to encourage entrepreneurship through a process of industry-academic interaction. This objective has been attained by creating an annual forum in the form of an Entrepreneurship Development Summit where entrepreneurs from different industries are invited to interact with students. Simultaneously a Business Plan competition is organized with participation from students from different institutes. The technical assistance and guidance provided by the Entrepreneurship Incubation Center, Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata every year has been invaluable.

Mr. Pasupati Sadhukha, founder of the Sadhukha Visiting Professor of Industrial Economics Endowment, attended Presidency College (University) as an Honors student in chemistry from 1961 to 1964. Following that, he completed Bachelor of Technology and Master of Technology degrees at Dept. of Applied Chemistry, Calcutta University. Subsequently Mr. Sadhukha went to University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A., to do his PhD in Chemical Engineering. During the following 20 years he worked for multinational U.S. oil companies and was awarded with 11 patents (with co inventors). Toward the end of that period, by coincidence, he happened to read about the famed investor Warren Buffett whose incisive analysis of economic characteristics of businesses, superb intellect, performance records and above all his integrity attracted Mr. Sadhukha to investment and finance profession and created an entrepreneurial urge to start his own enterprise. In 1996, he started an investment management company, GlobeScan Capital, Inc., assuming the role of Chief Investment Officer. Currently, he continues to be in that role.

Entrepreneurship Summit 2024

A one-day entrepreneurship summit was organized by the Department of Economics and the Presidency University Young Entrepreneurs’ Society (PUYES) on 13th March, 2024. The event commenced with registration at 9:45 AM, followed by a welcome address and an inaugural lecture featuring speakers such as Kaushik Maitra from Sulekha, Tuhin Mukherjee from Love Thy Nature, Anirban Dutta Gupta from Altor, Soumita Basu from Zeynika Inclusive Fashion, Ritesh Kanu from Drones Tech Lab, and Satendrasingh Lilhare from Bastar se Bazaar Tak. The morning continued with networking opportunities during "Meet the Entrepreneurs" session until an 11:15 AM tea break. After lunch, a segment titled "Bastar Se Bazaar Tak - Unveiling the Tapestry of Success" took place from 2:15 PM to 3 PM, followed by a workshop on developing a business plan led by Debapratim Das from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. The day concluded with the distribution of certificates and a vote of thanks at 5 PM.

Download: Brochure, programme, photos

Entrepreneurship Summit 2023

A one-day entrepreneurship summit was organized by the Department of Economics and the Presidency University Young Entrepreneurs’ Society (PUYES) on 15 th March, 2023. Inaugural address was delivered by Dr. Tamal Raha (Founder, Integrated Biopharma and Pharma Solutions).

Sujata Chatterjee (Founder & Managing Director, Twirl.Store) and Manjulika Bose Mazumder (Founder, Shumpun Foundation) interacted with the participants in session on Meet the entrepreneurs. Moloy Chakravorty (Business Coach and Founder of Beyond Red Ocean Consulting) spoke on Doing Business - A Bouquet of Ideas. A workshop on Business Plan followed which was conducted by Avelo Roy (Founder and MD, Kolkata Venture) The brochure of the programme can be downloaded from here and here.

Entrepreneurship Summit 2021

Workshop on Orientation to Business Thoughts

A one-day online entrepreneurship summit was organized by the Department of Economics and the Presidency University Young Entrepreneurs’ Society (PUYES) on 1st October, 2021. The first session entitled Academia and Entrepreneurship was on a discussion about the scope of entrepreneurship within academics. The speaker was Dr. Rimu Chaudhuri, Associate Professor, Heritage Business School. In the second session, entitled Orientation to Business Thoughts the participants had the opportunity to meet some young entrepreneur virtually where their journey and experiences were shared. The list of speakers included Mr Sukrit Poddar (Founder, The Chaiwala and The Bong Nanny), Ms Somwrita Guha, (Founder, Papercup) and Mr. Soupaul Dey and Mr. Subhabrata Ganguly (Co-Founders, Gusto Pizza). Soupal Dey and Subhabrata Ganguly has been alumnus of the Economics Department. The participants included departmental students as well as those from outside the institution.The brochure can be downloaded here.

Pasupati Sadhukha Lecture Series on Industrial Organisation (Jan- Feb 2020)

During the period of Pandemic, the Department of Economics, Presidency University organized the Pasupati Sadhukha Lecture Series on Industrial Organisation in January-February, 2000. The lectures were online and open to all interested both within and outside the university.

Speakers:

Prof. Gautam Bose, Professor of Economics, University of South Wales Business School - An

Introduction to Search and Matching – 15-16 January, 2020

Prof. Arghya Ghosh, Professor of Economics, University of South Wales Business School -

Theoretical Frameworks in Industrial Organization – 4-6 February, 2020.

This online lecture series attempted to integrate the theory and the academic experience to help the participants understand the challenges that entrepreneurial ventures often face. The participants were made familiar to the managerial, organizational and environmental challenges faced by the entrepreneurs and the ways to overcome those.

Entrepreneurship Summit 2019

The summit was organized on 28th February and 1 st March in 2019. There have been sessions where established and new entrepreneurs delivered lectures and interacted with the participants. Simultaneously a Business Plan competition was organized with participation from students from

different institutes. Dr. Nomal Chandra Borah (Founder of Guwahati Neurological Research Center Limited) delivered the inaugural lecture.

Mr. Subhajit Ray (Co-Founder, Krishwork Technologies and Research Lab), Mr. Subhro Sengupta, (Director, Merriant Fashion Tech Private Limited), Ms. Manisha Sharaf, (Director, Truck Hall Private Limited) and Mr. Sunandan Mukherjee (Director, Brick Cells Technologies Private Limited) shared their experiences as entrepreneurs in Meet the Entrepreneurs session on day-1.

Prof. Ashok Banerjee (Finance and Control, IIM Calcutta) talked about Financing a Business Plan and Mr. Goutam Banerjee (Principal Associate at Khaitan Group) talked in the session on Patent, Copyright and Trademark.

On the second day a workshop on “Ideas to Implementation” was conducted by the IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. Mr. Biswajit Dey (Founder, Edu Rate) talked in the session on An Entrepreneur’s Journey.

A B-Plan Competition followed where students from different institutes participated. Dr. Subhrangshu Sanyal (CEO, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park), Suman Mukhopadhyay (Director and Vice-President – Finance and Strategy, Banglanatok.com), Devasis Mitra (Mentor, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park) acted as the jury. Dr. Indrajit Ray (Infosys Chair Professor, Presidency University) announced the results and distributed the prizes. The brochure can be downloaded here.

Entrepreneurship Summit 2018

The summit was organized on 8-9 March in 2018. There have been sessions where established and new entrepreneurs delivered lectures and interacted with the participants. Simultaneously a Business Plan competition was organized with participation from students from different institutes.

Dr. Urvashi Sahni (Founder of Study Hall Educational Foundation) delivered the inaugural address. Mr. Angshuman Bhattacharya (Founder and CEO of SIBIA Analytics), Mr. Arun Ramamurthy (CEO, Credit Sudhaar) and Mr. Sujay Santra ((Founder and CEO of iKure Health Services, Ashoka Fellow) interacted with the participants in the Meet the Entrepreneurs (Part I) session.

On the second day, Mr. Harsh Neotia (Chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group) interacted with the participants.

Ms. Shraddha Goel (Founder of Velvetiine), Mrs. Sujata Chatterjee (Founder and Managing Director of twirl), Mrs. Darshan Shah (Founder of Weaver Studio) and Ms. Agnimitra Paul (Fashion Designer) interacted with the participants in the Meet the Entrepreneurs (Part II) session.

Mr. Yudhajit Dutta (Founder Pegasus Sports and Entertainment), Mr. Sayantan Neogi (Co- founder of Vision Aqua) and Mr. Suvankar Sen (Executive Director of SENCO Gold and Diamonds) interacted with the participants in the Meet the Entrepreneurs (Part III) session

Mr. Siddhartha Chatterjee (Co-Founder of Bhojohori Manna) delivered the valedictory lecture and distributed the prizes of the B-Plan competition. The brochure can be downloaded here.

Entrepreneurship Summit 2017

The 2017 edition of the Entrepreneurship Workshop connected leaders of change in Bengal with successful and current entrepreneurs, scholars, and students. The workshop featured talks, business competition presentations, and interactive workshops. Speakers covered diverse but closely linked

topics, including the developing business environment in Bengal, insights gained from interactions between scholars and practicing entrepreneurs, and on organizational strategy and intelligence. Some of these sessions included planned group discussion, allowing participants substantial scope to contest and debate old ideas and test new ideas. The business plan competition included not only a pitch presentation of a new idea, but also a follow up workshop on sustaining the idea in a world of complexity, dynamism, and turbulence. The inaugural address was delivered by Dr. Krishna Gupta and the keynote Address was delivered by Vipul Mathur (Founder, Big Basket).

Other speakers were Dr. Saugato Ray (Professor, Strategic Management, IIM) Dr. Abhirup Chakrabarti (Distinguished Faculty Fellow of Strategy, Queen’s University, Canada), Subhashis Dutt (Director, Modendra Dutt and Sons), Anirban Saha (Founder, Kolkata Bloggers), Arjun Majumder (Founder, Aloha Holidays), Soumendra Bhattacharya (Founder, MAD About Drama), Sagar Daryani (Co-founder, WOW! Momo), Abhirup Banerjee (Co- founder, GRIP Consulting, Sweet Handi), Sandip Gajakas (Founder, The Shoe Laundry), Punam Bir Kasturi (Founder, Daily Dump) and Anjan Chatterjee (Founder, Speciality Restaurants Limited).

Entrepreneurship Summit 2016

The first workshop on Entrepreneurship Development was organized by the Department of Economics and the Presidency University Young Entrepreneurs’ Society (PUYES) on 6,7 and 9 January, 2016. The workshop had government officials, entrepreneurs and academicians as its resource persons. Apart from an orientation session, the workshop had sessions like, technical session, session on meet the entrepreneurs, launching of e-market and a panel discussion. The panel discussion was held as part of Bengal Global Business Summit 2016. On day-1, Dr. Sabahat S Azim (Founder, CEO & MD Glocal Healthcare System) conducted the session on Being-becoming: 10 Steps to Entrepreneurship: Thinking, Going Live, Wrap Up

On day-2, the welcome address was given by Prof. Anuradha Lohia, Vice-chancellor, Presidency University and the keynote address was delivered by Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, CEO, Bandhan Bank. Ashok Banerjee (Professor, Finance and Control, IIM, Calcutta) was the speaker in the session on Innovative Thinking.

In the session on Entrepreneurship and incubation, C. D. Mitra (CEO, Pipal Majik & Anvetion Consulting & Advisor, Centre for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, IIM Calcutta) spoke on “Making Entrepreneurship Happen - Why, How, When & Where” and Shubhranshu Sanyal (CEO, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta Incubation Centre) spoke on “How to prepare and present a business plan”.

Bikram Dasgupta (Founder & Executive Chairman, Globsyn Group), Amitava Bhattacharya (Founder, Banglanatak.com), Dr. Sabahat S Azim (Founder, CEO & MD Glocal Healthcare System) and Soma Banerjee (CEO & Co-founder, Business Brio) were speakers in the session on Meet the Entrepreneurs.

This was followed by launching of e-market site for Presidency University by Mr. Puneet Bhatia, Director, KPMG. On day-3, a Panel Discussion on “Entrepreneurship - The preferred professional choice” was held as part of Bengal Global Business Summit, 2016. The panel included Rajiva Sinha (IAS) (Principal Secretary, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Govt. of West Bengal), Rudra Chatterjee (Chairman, Obeetee), Angshuman Bhattacharya (CEO & Co-founder, SIBIA Analytics & Consulting Services), V K Unni (Professor, Public Policy and Management, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta), Anant Sarma (CEO, SIDBI Venture Capital) and S Kishore (IAS) (Principal Secretary, Department of Commerce & Industries, Govt. of West Bengal). Professor Anuradha Lohia, Vice Chancellor, Presidency University moderated the session. The brochure can be downloaded here.