RITU JHA
The TiE University, which fosters entrepreneurship among college and university students globally, is hosting a Global Business Hackathon and a Global Business Pitch Competition.
The last date to enroll for the hackathon is March 13 (CST)and the 48 -hour long hackathon starts March 8, and the final is on March 28.
Final for the Global Pitch competition for students only, is on May 15, though the selection is chapter-based to take part in the final Global Pitchfest.
TiE University is one of the programs of IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE) Global, a non-profit dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship around the world. It has a presence in 60 cities across 14 countries. TiE strives to inspire entrepreneurs through mentoring, networking, education, incubating, and funding programs and activities.
Ravi Puli, founder and chair of the Washington, DC chapter’s TiE University initiative and co-chair of the global program on TiE University, told indica News that over 2,400 students would be participating from 6 countries in the hackathon which is a first for TiE.
“Both the competitions any college student can participate and then and out of these 30 participants would be selected and the final is on March 28,” Puli said. “There is a no age group, any college and university students and recent graduate from the college year 2019-20, can participate ad it’s free.”
The objective of the Global Business Hackathon is to solve business challenges, Puli said.
“Because of Covid everybody is struggling and everybody is looking for a better world, and better world can be created only by better ideas and what makes our life easier and that is possible through new business ideas,” he said.
“We want to encourage students to think in solving the business problems. So that they become part of the entrepreneurship. Students will either go work for a business or create his own business.”
As a first-generation entrepreneur, Puli said, mentoring, coaching, and networking are essential for a startup business. And through TiE University program, college students and recent graduates can find investors, collaborators, advisors, and co-founders to help them on their entrepreneurial journey.
Due to the pandemic, all the programs are virtual.
About the Global Business Pitch Competition, Puli said that student entrepreneurs are mentored by local chapter TiE members and partners for several months, and attend workshops on business.
They then have the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a jury at the local level, and if selected, compete against other global teams. The winning teams get cash and prizes worth $100,000.
Even students who don’t foresee a future in entrepreneurship can develop meaningful skills and gain experience that can help them in their career. By networking, they may be presented with great opportunities for their next internship, job, or even position themselves as a co-founder of another business for their ability to solve complex business challenges.
Dr Paul Lopez , the co-chair of the global program, has been running a college-outreach program at TiE Atlanta for several years before TiE Global Program in 2019.
“Our collective mission is to build the next generation of entrepreneurs,” said Lopez. “After all, the TiE University program is a living legacy – some of these awesome students will become the TiE charter members of the next decades.”
