Entrepreneurship: A Global Economic Imperative

Entrepreneurship is a very powerful paradigm – which truly has the ability to empower people – create jobs, revive communities and enhance development in the region. It is entrepreneurship which directly contributes to economic growth and sustaining development. It is the new entrants to business who are the important catalysts of innovation, which leads to economic growth.

In the US, since 1980s, net job creation occurred primarily in startups, and it is the new companies that have been boosting overall job growth for over 2 decades. The number of people filing for unemployment stands at a staggering 15 million, and the need for new entrepreneurs is crucial to sustain such advanced economies.

In India too, the need for entrepreneurship and startups has never been greater. The youth comprise over 40% of the total population presently. Between 2010-2030, India will add over 240 million people to the working class population. Countries like India and China need entrepreneurship to keep the growing young population employed.

Victor Hugo had said, “There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” That idea, is TiE, an organization with the principal mission of fostering entrepreneurship globally. The Indus Entrepreneurs (aka TiE) was born in Silicon Valley in 1992 when a handful of Indian Diaspora decided to give a gift of entrepreneurship development to the society that has been so rewarding to them.

Fast forward, the TiE Network today has 56 chapters in 13 countries, and is comprised of 2,500 seasoned entrepreneurs and mentors as charter members, and 10,500 aspiring entrepreneurs and professionals as members. TiE Chapters around the world organize a range of quality programs and events that promote entrepreneurship and deliver benefits through mentoring, motivating, networking and education opportunities.

TiE Chennai is one of our leading Chapters, with a strong mentoring pool and exemplary charter members, committed to the cause of developing entrepreneurs. We are honored to have R. Ramaraj, co-founder of Sify.com, Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice Chairman, Cognizant Technologies, KB Chandrasekhar, Kalpathi Suresh and many more successful business leaders supporting TiE Chennai.

TiECON Chennai is one such annual event that celebrates the year’s successes and milestones. This year, the TiE Chennai team features some stellar advisors and mentors sharing their entrepreneurial journeys, such as Kanwal Rekhi, Ajit Balakrishnan, and Gurcharan Das, among others. A unique feature this year is also the ‘Entrepreneur Awards’ celebrating both ‘Entrepreneurs’ and the ‘Mentors’ in the community.

We salute the people of Chennai for supporting TiE and best wishes for a very successful TiECON.

PK Agarwal

CEO, TiE Global