Alumni Give a Boost to Student Business Competition

Entrepreneurship Fest had the Support of India and UK Alumni and Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs

Katie Jo Walter

Introduction by Rajesh Kohli ’84

I joined the Advancement Committee because of what I got from my time at Woodstock. Like many alumni, I want to see Woodstock remain a place of high integrity and meaningful impact. I knew serving on the Advancement Committee would be a great opportunity to be a resource and an advocate. However, being a member of the Woodstock School Advancement Committee has also given me the chance to really connect with the students and the campus of today. While the times and students are very different from when I was there, I have really enjoyed my interaction, and after attending the 2022 fall Board meetings I felt energized and optimistic.

At the Board meetings Katie Jo both connected me with some very driven student interns in the Advancement and Alumni Office who were interested in business and suggested I play a role in a first-ever business pitch event students were organizing to take place the following month. I was eager to lend a hand with this initiative for many reasons – to give Woodstock students a chance to interact with and receive feedback from a variety of voices beyond the hillside, to help the school raise its profile in the area of business throughout India and around the world, and to create stronger ties between Woodstock and its alumni, parents, and friends working in business and entrepreneurship.

As an added bonus, I saw the opportunity to make this event a collaboration between two alumni communities to which I belong: Woodstock School and Harvard University. Much to my and the Woodstock students’ delight, Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs lent their support to this event as a knowledge partner.

The business pitch event – that the students have named Entrepreneurship Fest – was an exciting one as you will learn from the accompanying article. It was great for the students and for me to hear from alumni of different eras sharing how their Woodstock experience paved the way for their business successes in one way or another.

I shared my own talk as well, stressing the need to adapt, to realize that life beyond Woodstock will present new challenges, and to always work hard with full dedication. I see a lot of this hard work and dedication at Woodstock today and look forward to supporting Entrepreneurship Fest for its second iteration in spring 2023.

Please get in touch with the Advancement and Alumni Office (alumni@woodstock.ac.in) if you’re involved in business and want to support or participate in this exciting event that is expected to grow in leaps and bounds over the next few years.

On October 15 Woodstock School’s firstever Entrepreneurship Fest was brought to culmination. Student teams from Woodstock and local schools delivered business pitches for Woodstock School alumni and staff judges in a final round for award selection. Awards included Best Junior Team (under 15 years) business pitch as well as Senior Team (aged 15 and older) business pitch in the categories of Best Idea, Most Creative Idea, and Most Social Impact. Participating schools included Woodstock School, The Asian School (Dehradun), Mussoorie International School, Aryan School, Shri Ram School, and Tula’s International School (Dehradun).

This student-driven event that was quickly brought together in just over one month saw great support from within the Woodstock community. The Centre for Imagination and Woodstock’s Advancement and Alumni Office collaborated with Business faculty Tilak KC and the student organising committee to support this event’s success.

Student pitches featured businesses focused on a variety of goods and services, including online sports organising, feminine hygiene products, clothing and footwear recycling and upcycling, innovations in composting, online learning, urban gardening, and childcare. Presentations were often inventive, using questions and skits to engage the audience. Given that the entire competition took place over just one month, many business plans were impressively detailed with thorough budget projections and insightful assessments of competing companies.

Woodstock General Body Member Rajesh Kohli ’84, Director/Founder at U&I and VR-1 Group, championed the event. He served as an in-person judge and brought Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs (HAE) on board as Entrepreneurship Fest’s knowledge partner. Joining Mr Kohli in judging the event were fellow alumni entrepreneurs and business leaders Rahul Amin ’71, Woodstock School Distinguished Alumnus and Chairman and Managing Director of Jyoti Group; Dr Vivek Tandon ’88, Founder and CEO of revalyu Resources; Manav Mehra ’96, Director at Turnaround Ventures; Ronjoy Rao ’00, Owner and Managing Director at SNEHA Doon; and Yu Sung Eo ’11, Co-Founder and CGO/CFO at Got Tea Bubble Brew Co.

Participants

During the day’s programme most of the judges delivered talks sharing their own lessons learned while pioneering their businesses and organisations. Many alumni talks traced back to Woodstock and/or included stories of collaborations and mentorships that emerged from the Woodstock network.

The alumni talks elicited much excitement and reflection among the student and faculty attendees from the region. Meanwhile, the alumni judges enjoyed lending their support and suggestions to a variety of young entrepreneurs while returning to campus, whether in person or on line.

Following student pitches, serial entrepreneur Dr Vivek Tandon ’88 remarked, “I loved the passion of some of the presenters. It comes across strongly that they believe in what they’re doing, which is wonderful!” Dr Tandon, who attended Woodstock in fourth and fifth grades, began his talk with his time at Woodstock.

He shared his business ideas and lessons learned from dealing in the Indian goods he would take home to Uganda with him as well as rhododendrons and rhododendron jam on the hillside.

With the pilot of the Woodstock Entrepreneur Fest a decided success, plans for the next one are being discussed. Shivom ’23, one of the student organisers, wants Entrepreneur Fest to be added to Woodstock School’s annually calendared events: “With entrepreneurial passion rising across the nation, we were thrilled to launch a business competition for like-minded entrepreneurs and feel strongly that it needs to continue. From hearing and ideating to developing a business proposal and presenting it about causes that matter, our organising team envisioned this as a highly impactful experience for student entrepreneurs across India.”

Business faculty Tilak KC is also eager to build Entrepreneurship Fest as a way to encourage students’ opportunities for receiving motivation and feedback from both peers from across the region and those who have already established their own businesses. Following the event, Mr KC shared his hopes for the event’s future: “I would like to see Entrepreneurship Fest occurring with the same kind of scope and involvement as the pan-India Win Mumby basketball tournament at Woodstock. It would work beautifully as a multi-day event bringing together young entrepreneurs from across the country.”

Rajesh Kohli, too, expressed great enthusiasm for the potential of this event. He urged all attendees to begin planning for the next Entrepreneurship Fest and spreading the word about it. Meanwhile, he’s set his sights on attaining greater involvement from Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs, Woodstock community members involved in business, and other partners and sponsors.

Katie Jo Walter gave special thanks to Mr Kohli for his efforts with this first Entrepreneurship Fest. She committed her office to helping attain the increased involvement Mr Kohli envisioned by conducting greater outreach to Woodstock alumni, former staff, and parents involved in business and facilitating their contributions to Entrepreneurship Fest. “Woodstock is known as a dynamic place that produces and attracts ingenious, bold trailblazers from highly varied communities and backgrounds. Many of them have established successful business ventures across the country and around the world. I look forward to optimising ways they can share their expertise and incredible personal examples to inspire and educate young entrepreneurs.” https://www.woodstockschool.in/woodstockentrepreneurshipfest-2022/

Congratulations to the Entrepreneurship Fest business pitch contest winners!