Report on National Seminar on “Entrepreneurship in the Post-Covid Scenario - Perspective and Challenges”

Students of BBA Batch (2019-2021) under the supervision of Dr Honey Gupta, Assistant Professor, Lloyd institute of management and technology participated in the national seminar on "Entrepreneurship in the post -covid scenario - perspective and challenges" which was conducted by the department of management studies, central university of Kerala in collaboration with central university of Odisha on 11th november 2021.

Students were given the opportunity to experience the insights from reputed academic and Industry Scholars of national institutes. They focused on varied aspects of Challenges and future perspective for Entrepreneurs during this post covid period. These businesses, often entrepreneur led, are particularly vulnerable to crises, because they typically have fewer resources than large businesses. Yet job losses in Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) often go unnoticed in the news as they are much less attentioncatching than job losses in large businesses – even though in the aggregate job losses in SME are bound to be larger. Given the scale of the Covid-19 pandemic, understanding the experience of entrepreneurs in these difficult times as well as the outlook they have for what lies ahead in the short- and long-term are critical to sustain and support this vital part of the global economy.

They have talked about Shift from global to local, While digitalization is allowing many entrepreneurs to reach more (e.g., international) customers (discussed above), other entrepreneurs noted how the disruption of international business in the pandemic increased awareness of domestic markets, and demand for domestic manufacturing and supply-chains. For instance, there were efforts to reshore production processes to local markets instead of relying on international and overseas suppliers.

Digitalisation included an increase and switch to online products, service, and delivery, but also opportunities for business services related to online security, digital payments, and marketing. Some of these opportunities included deploying artificial intelligence .Governments tried to ease the economic consequences of the Covid-pandemic by introducing measures targeted at providing relief and support for businesses. The nature of these measures differed across countries. For instance, some governments placed more focused on protecting jobs, others prioritized protecting businesses that create jobs, in some countries the government provided much more limited support altogether.

Seminar’s Welcome address was given by Prof. R.K.Mishra, Sr. Prof. and Former Director, Institute of Public Enterprise,Hyderabad.There were panel of academic experts from many national institutes namely Prof. Dr. V Balachandran (Dean, School of Business Studies, Central University of Kerala) , Prof. Dr.HVenkateswarlu Vice Chancellor, Central University of Kerala), Prof.Dr. S K Palita(Vice-Chancellor I/C Central University of Odisha) and Special Remarks was given by Prof. S. Mahendra Dev (Vice/Chancellor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai(IGIDR) ; Former Secretary, Government of India; Director, Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad& Advisor to UNDP and FAO and Prof. Naresh Kumar( Dean, School of Economics University of Hyderabad). The Technical Session on LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (LED) was by Prof. Dr. Daniel (DF) Meyer,(Director, School of Public Management,Governance &Public Policy,University of Johannesburg )&Dr. NatanyaMeyer, Associate Professor(DHET-NRF SARChI in Entrepreneurship Education, Dept. of Business Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg).

Another Technical Session on PANACEA FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL CHALLENGES that was graced by Shri. Shekar Agrawal ( Managing Director,Bhagyanagar polymers PvtLtd.and Hind overseas Pvt. Ltd., Former President of Andhra Pradeshand Telangana Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and Er. Nanma Girish (Translational - Civil Engineer & Co-Founder, NestAbide, Thiruvananthapuram).

Students become aware about the recent scenario and felt motivated. They were also provided certificates for participation in the same.