On August 15, 2015 from the historic red fort, honorable Prime Minister, Sri Narendra Modi announced a new campaign initiative “Startup India, Standup India” following his clarion call to make India, a land of entrepreneurs which at G D Goenka University is a part of its strategic student development plan from the inception. G D Goenka University encourages its students to dream for themselves, and to live that dream. It does not believe in making its students just job ready but future ready, a future created by them, for them and for all others. It offers them platforms to explore, nurture a skill and enjoy a passion. It not only teaches students to become successful entrepreneurs but also offers them opportunities to be so by creating an environment. Students are encouraged to think of business ideas, develop business plans and implement these ideas. Udyami Bazaar is one such regular platform where students showcase their business ideas and do a pilot test by creating a plan, and a point of sale that is managed entirely by the students.

The Udyami Bazar which is an annual feature at the university, gets the look and feel of an open market with a variety of stalls selling products developed and designed by students. The range of products and services include setting up a DJ system, flowers and gifts, tattoo, handicraft items, African food, perfumes, chocolates and U-wheels, handcrafted pottery items etc. It trains students, skills such as planning a stall, sourcing the products, marketing and maintaining accounts as well as developing a contingency plan. Under the able guidance of teachers, it is a powerful pedagogical tool which encourages students to become innovative, risk takers and open to new opportunities.

An important outcome of this has been an increase in the interest of students towards entrepreneurship. About 20 percent of the first MBA batch (2013-15) decided to pursue the entrepreneurial passion. The School of Management also started an exclusive 3 year Undergraduate programme offering BBA-Entrepreneurship. The BBA Entrepreneurship curriculum has been designed to build agile, high-value ventures using the lean startup methodology i.e via experiential learning coursework and real-life experiences. Through this series of courses, entrepreneurship students are encouraged to look at real-world problems, design a solution, test their assumptions on a customer base, iterate and/or pivot based upon feedback, and then finally launch their startups. This is aided by classroom sessions, market visits, customer feedbacks, mentorship by entrepreneurs, guest lectures by experts in various fields, sessions by banks, venture capitalists and also internship at organizations in the industry where the student wants to set up his start-up. The current year BBA Entrepreneurship (2014-17) students are in different phases of their ventures such as:

Sadhika Malhotra, Scent Studio: Bespoke room freshener and perfumes
Prabhjeet Singh, Hire Bazaar: Home, office and party rental solutions
Narun Kakkar, DessertsDaily: Home delivered desserts and chocolates
Akshay Ralli and Vardhan Kakar, Onlinepropertymart.com (OPM): Real estate deals in office, home and farmland
Vishal Tanwar, Coverdekho: Customised mobile phone covers
Eunice Mbala, EJC Clothing: Party and wedding dresses on rent in Congo

The School is also coming up with its 4^th International Conference (ICON) in February themed Dream, Build & Grow- Unleashing the Entrepreneurial Potential.