Meet to feature inaugural Startup Competition.
By The American Bazaar Staff
NEW YORK: The 18th Wharton India Economic Forum (WIEF) will held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on February 22nd.
The annual meet will feature some of India’s top corporate leaders, including keynote speakers Vikram Malhotra, Chairman of the Americas, McKinsey and Company, Ravi Venkatesan, Former Chairman of Microsoft India and Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson, SBI.
The theme of this year’s conference is ‘India: Time to Reboot’, to reflect on India’s upcoming general elections. This year’s conference aims to reflect carefully on the past decade to pinpoint India’s key success factors and areas for political and economic improvement, said a press release.
Showcasing five panels, one dedicated to this theme, WIEF strives to be a forum for delegates to reassess India’s economic growth trajectory, re-evaluate its regulatory landscape and draw up an action plan to ensure the country meets its full potential over the coming years.
The forum will be attended by senior industry leaders from entrepreneurship, venture capital, finance, private equity, infrastructure and real estate. Prominent speakers include Sanjeev Bikhchandani (founder, Naukri.com); Alok Kejriwal (co-founder and CEO, Games2Win); Dinesh Kanabar (Deputy CEO, KPMG India) and Jitendra Virwani (Chairman, Embassy Group).
This year, WIEF will hold an inaugural Startup Competition that will feature innovative India-focused start-ups. The competition comprises two separate Innovation Tournaments for early-stage ideas and post-proof of concept start-ups, and was launched on November 24th, 2013. Ten finalists across the post-proof of concept and idea categories were chosen on 30th January, 2014. Winning entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to pitch to an elite panel of venture capital investors and established entrepreneurs on the day of the conference and will compete for prize money of up to $10,000.
Over the years, WIEF, an annual conference organized by Wharton students, has been attended by over 500 people each year and has included renowned and influential keynote speakers and panelists such as former President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; current Union Minister of Finance, P. Chidambaram; Arvind Kejriwal; founder of the Aam Aadmi Party; K.V. Kamath, Chairman of Infosys Limited; Ambassador Arun K. Singh; member of the parliament Varun Gandhi and industrialists like Anil Ambani and Sunil Mittal.