Illuminate! is a series of pre-Eureka! one-day Workshops on Entrepreneurship across India, by Shantanu Bhagwat from Udbhav Associates, in collaboration with E-Cell, IIT Bombay. These workshops will precede E-Cell, IIT Bombay’s flagship annual event, “Eureka!” – the annual B-Plan competition to encourage youth towards entrepreneurship. The series of zonal business plan workshops in various cities across India over a period of several weeks are aimed at spreading awareness about entrepreneurship among students and young professionals and equip them with the skills, tools and advice to help realise their entrepreneurial ambitions.

The workshops will be focused on Business Plan writing skills and techniques. They will include the intricacies of going from an idea to a full-fledged successful enterprise. These highly interactive sessions will include case-studies, analysis, samples, presentations and discussions led by Mr. Shantanu Bhagwat, noted Venture Investor and Entrepreneur. Participants at these workshops will be encouraged to write and submit their business plans to Eureka!

Eureka! has been independently recognised as Asia’s largest Business Plan Competition by CNN and Thomson Reuters. Being a platform of this magnitude, participation in pre-Eureka workshops and Eureka! is also expected to provide considerable networking opportunities with other entrepreneurs, mentors and investors.

Workshop Fees (without discount): Rs 750/- per participant, including course material.
Early-Birds Discount (up to five days prior to the workshop): 20% discount; Rs 600/- per participant
Group Bookings (in groups of five participants): 33% discount; Rs 500/- per participant

Udbhav Associates

Shantanu Bhagwat

Profile

An engineer by training, Shantanu Bhagwat is a one-time diplomat turned venture investor and advisor to start-ups.

These days he divides his time between UK and India, working with early stage companies and on ideas to improve political systems and governance in India. He also regularly conducts workshops on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Personal Development.

In a career spanning over two decades, Mr. Bhagwat has worked across geographies and industries, including several years in Japan and in the UK. He is presently a Principal Director with a US-based venture capital fund, advising on investment opportunities in India. Previously a Partner at venture capital firm in London, Mr. Bhagwat has also worked at Monitor Co. in London. Prior to that, he spent several years as a fast-track career diplomat with the Indian Foreign Service, working in New Delhi and Tokyo. Over the last few years, he has spent a lot of time thinking about and commenting on globalization, innovation and entrepreneurship across geographies and sectors, with a particular emphasis on India.

He is a personal investor in (and an advisor to) several start-ups in India, including Myntra, India's leading online fashion & lifestyle relatiler; Innoviti, a company with cutting-edge technology in transaction processing; Elements Akademia, an innovative enterprise focused on employability and MilkMantra, a healthy dairy products company. He also sits on the Board of Innoviti and Vindhya e-Infomedia, an award-winning BPO in India.

A graduate in Computer Engineering, Shantanu holds an MBA from London Business School where he was a Chevening Scholar.

He is a Charter Member of TiE - a global non-profit network of entrepreneurs and professionals and a past member of Mensa International. He is also a frequent speaker and panelist at conferences on Venture Capital, Innovation, Asia and India.