IndiaMART, India’s largest online marketplace, organized the annual SME Conclave 2017 in association with TiE Delhi-NCR at the Welcome Hotel Sheraton in Saket, New Delhi. Themed ‘SMEs in new India’, the conclave featured several leaders from the industry discussing various facets of young businesses like marketing, finance, technology and more.
The event brought together TiE’s extensive mentor base and IndiaMART’s vast buyer and seller network to promote entrepreneurship in the country and share business-related advice with the SME sector.
Dinesh Agarwal (Founder & CEO - IndiaMART), Brijesh Agrawal (Co-founder & Director – IndiaMART) particularly focused on the need of digitization for MSMEs. Availability of adequate finances for MSMEs is a critical issue but it is people like Dhruv Shringi (Co-founder & CEO Yatra.com) who have changed the whole game. Dhruv shared his experience of making his company public. Dinesh Gulati (Director of IndiaMART), Alok Mittal (Co-founder and CEO of Indifi Technologies), Vikas Arora (Executive Vice President & Regional Business Leader, Emerging Business Banking of YES BANK), Padmaja Ruparel (President, Indian Angel Network) and Amit Sachdev (Co-founder & CEO, Cointribe) talked about the alternative financing options. Among the other eminent speakers present at the event were Sunil Dutt (President, Reliance Jio Infocomm) and Aman Nath, Founder & Chairman, Neemrana Hotels
Commenting on the conclave, Dinesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, IndiaMART, said, “India’s economic prosperity relies on millions of small & medium-sized entrepreneurs who are taking tremendous financial risks to create innovative products and services as well as job opportunities. Through this conclave, we wanted to reach out to these SME owners and assist them in overcoming all the obstacles that have been holding them back from fulfilling their dream of creating world-class enterprises.”
Brijesh Agrawal, Co-founder & Director, IndiaMART, added, “In the current competitive business environment, it is important for SMEs to create value for their customers. Digitisation is impacting all aspects of businesses today whether it is marketing, finance or logistics. These are exciting times for the emerging entrepreneurs and businesses as through the adoption of new technology, today’s SMEs can become large businesses tomorrow if they innovate and adapt to these trends with time.”
The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector in India has been thriving amidst a challenging environment and has experienced several highs and lows over the past few years. With the Indian B2B e-commerce expected to become a $700Bn industry, IndiaMART’s latest endeavor ties-in with its long-term vision to empower Indian SMEs with technology and strengthen the backbone of the country’s economy by betting big on entrepreneurship as a viable and promising career option.