Ritu Jha–
Technological change is sweeping through the world, and in this constant state of flux, organizations such as The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) want to reinvent themselves to maintain, and in fact, increase their relevance, both geopolitically and technologically. TiE Silicon Valley President Anita Manwani (Center, Above Picture) feels keeping abreast of AI opportunities in healthcare, life sciences, semiconductors, manufacturing, supply chain, and security is vital.
This is the vision she shared at the TiE SV holiday party at Palo Alto Country Club, California where, apart from TiE SV charter members, Consul General of India in San Francisco Dr. K. Srikar Reddy (To Manwani’s left in above picture) and Consul General of Canada in San Francisco, Rana Sarkar (to Manwani’s right in above picture) were present.
Manwani spoke to indica about her plans and reasons behind rebranding TiE.
TiE Silicon Valley, she said, signed an MoU in November with the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an autonomous society under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) of the Government of India, to strengthen startup initiatives and create a gateway to Silicon Valley for Indian startups.
This MoU is expected to bring investment opportunities through TiE Angels and other Silicon Valley investors for startups in India.
Manwani said, “Our aim is to build a collaboration between TiE and STPI to bring investment opportunities to investors from Silicon Valley, to enable them to connect with tech startups that are under already funded by STPI and vice versa – for TiE to give that Silicon Valley immersive experience to the top startups from India. We envision that they will send their cohorts just before TiEcon is held in May 2024 and we will do an immersive program for them.”
TiE SV has similar programs in place with various entities in India, but with STPI, this is its first.
TiE SV, the founding chapter of TiE, was established 31 years ago to foster entrepreneurship through education, mentoring, networking, investing, and incubating. The organization says it has influenced $1 trillion of wealth, helped more than 25,000 entrepreneurs, and created over 2 million jobs. Over the years, TiE has grown to over 50 chapters in more than 14 countries.
During her one-year tenure, Manwani said, TiE has focused on emerging technologies having a cadence relevant conversations. “We have launched an executive roundtable for leaders in life sciences and healthcare. We are also making sure that there are regular AI meetups where aspiring young entrepreneurs, investors, and enterprise leaders can come together and have conversations about how AI can be used, how it can be funded, and what are their challenges,” Manwani told indica.
She said the TiE Golden Globe Forum brings together entrepreneurs and aspiring next-gen leaders and their stories. “Hopefully, this will ignite and inspire other others. I am committed to honoring the legacy of this 32-year-old mission and doing it in a way that is relevant to today’s entrepreneurs and technologies,” Manwani added.
She said TiE also wants to create opportunities for executives and enterprise leaders to help them get the benefit of developments in the entrepreneurial world, and share their challenges so that it sparks innovation.
“We wish to connect them with investors and enterprise decision-makers for proof of concept and solutions that will be usable for the industry. But most importantly, our focus is also on fulfilling the growing demand for an immersive experience in Silicon Valley among enterprises in the US, India, Canada, and some other countries,” she added. “We want to be the gateway for global entrepreneurs worldwide.”
The TiE SV president is “very bullish on India”. “I see what India has become. During my recent visit to India, I travelled in Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab by road. There is so much infrastructure development in the smaller towns and villages. We hear from ministers such as Piyush Goyal (Commerce) and Ashwini Vaishnaw (IT and Railways) about the budgets allocated for automation and infrastructure projects in India. These are huge opportunities. This is a nation on the move.”
TiE recently launched a semiconductor initiative. “We bring together people in the semiconductor world to look at innovations that will help complement semiconductor manufacturing in India.”
