Bennett University’s students rocked the Round the Clock Bootcamp by MQDC Whizdom

Staying true to its commitment of building an ecosystem of ideas and nurturing young talent, Magnolia Quality Development Corporation Limited (MQDC) Whizdom Club, a co-working space, organized a one of its kind 24 hour non-stop Bootcamp for the Students of Bennett University, in association with Turning Ideas Ventures, a startup incubation and advisory company. It was an immersive entrepreneurship program that kick-started on the 7th and ended on the 8th of February 2020. The programme allowed the participants to experience the life of an entrepreneur through an interactive and gamified event with many twists and turns.

The event hosted over 70 B.Tech. and MBA students of Bennett University at MQDC’s Whizdom Club, located in G.K. II, New Delhi. The students were divided into 14 teams and given problem statements, mentorship sessions, and virtual equity to create pitches for their ideas within 24 hours. The program enabled the participants to experience every step of a new business venture, from the initial ideation to a commercially viable business that could finally be pitched to the esteemed jury featuring Sorabh Agarwal, Angel Investor, Strategic and M&A Advisor; Sanjeev Singh, Associate Professor, IIC, UDSC; Ritu Marya, Editor-in-Chief, Entrepreneur APAC and India, Sanjeev Singhal, Co-Founder, InnerChef and Sameer Garg, Vice President and Group Head, Axis Bank.

“Zero2One by Whizdom Club, is a first of its kind startup Bootcamp which focused on letting the founders experience entire lifecycle of a startup from ideation to fund-raise, peppered with real-life situations all in 24 hrs,” said Ashish Mittal, Chief Mentor, TurningIdeas.

Students worked on various projects such as ‘Failed Startup Asset Monetization Platform’ for startups, building a platform for co-working to offer single-window services for startups, developing alternative government processes for ease of issue of permission, license or registration by government departments to reduce physical interface, etc. The winning team created a platform using an IVR system to connect blue-collar employees to vast job opportunities. They also created a WhatsApp platform which sends automated replies based on responses received from the employees for those with smartphone access. Winners earned themselves workspace passes at Whizdom Club, an internship opportunity at MQDC India and Turning Ideas Ventures, incubation support, technology credits, certification from Whizdom Club, MQDC India and more.

Commenting on the event, Ms. Chulamas (Amy) Jitpatima, Director Whizdom Club by MQDC India, said, “This one-day programme was designed to inspire young minds to become innovative change makers and gain first-hand experience of ground realities. It was exciting to see the energy and passion the BU students exhibited during the 24-hour marathon”.

Established in 2016 by Times of India Group, Bennett University has a thriving start-up culture under Bennett Hatchery, the in-house business incubation centre. Bennett Hatchery currently has more than 30 student start-ups currently being mentored on campus. The Hatchery also facilitates participation in national competitions, global boot-camps, visits to Accelerators and talks by Start-ups/VCs for budding entrepreneurs. In a short history of 3 years, two of the students’ start-ups from Bennett University have already raised external funding of ~ USD 3 Million and are running commercial operations.

Dr. Vinod Shastri, Head Academics & Research – Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Bennett University said, “The Bootcamp at Whizdom Club was a great learning experience for the students. It gave them a glimpse of the life of an entrepreneur as well as an opportunity to share their ideas and be mentored by industry veterans”.