(From left) Manish Kumar, Kaushalendra and Swapnil Kumar Shanu at the event at BIT-Patna on Saturday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Oct. 19: Aspiring engineers would do well to look beyond the conventional service sectors and explore their entrepreneurship abilities, said experts at a panel discussion titled “Entrepreneurship drain from Bihar” today.

At the daylong event christened “Entrepreneurship Awareness Drive” organised by the Entrepreneuship Cell of IIT-Kharagpur, former students of the premier institution talked about their success stories and about following their dreams rather than take a conventional path.

“Challenges are there in every field as they are in entrepreneurship. The basic issue that most aspiring entrepreneurs in Bihar or Patna might think of is about compromising on lifestyle. I have done my engineering from IIT-Kharagpur and today I work in villages of Vaishali,” said Manish Kumar, the co-founder of Farms n Farmers, a firm in Patna set up by two former students of IIT-Kharagpur.

He added: “There are numerous issues in rural areas and young entrepreneurs can use these to make new ventures. I believe that a large number of young entrepreneurs are needed in the state at present.”

Farms n Farmers works in the rural agricultural sector in Bihar. Nearly 200 students of BIT-Patna took part in the event, wherein speakers deliberated upon the situation of entrepreneurship in Bihar.

“It might not be completely correct to say ‘Entrepreneurship drain from Bihar’ as drain occurs when there is a situation of plenty. In Bihar, there are very few young entrepreneurs. Risk and failures are imminent and it is there in entrepreneurship as well. One should not be afraid but rather take them as learning exercises,” said Kaushalendra, the founder of Kaushalya Foundation, Patna.

Swapnil Kumar Shanu, another IIT-Kharagpur passout, who is heading the farmers’ services division in Farms n Farmers, said: “Many of my friends work in bigger cities and even foreign countries but they do not seem to get job satisfaction. I am content with what I am doing today at my birthplace. I would urge the youth to do what their heart says and not to listen to what other people ask them to do with their lives. I believe one should try to be himself or herself rather than following in someone else’s footsteps.”

S.L. Gupta, the director of BIT-Patna, said: “The response of the students was overwhelming. BIT-Patna would organise a three-day Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp on October 23, 24 and 25 and a four-week Entrepreneurship Development Programme in Janruary next year.”