‘Entrepreneurs are the new-age freedom fighters’

Madurai: Latha Pandiarajan, chairperson of Nativelead Foundation, on Saturday, said that entrepreneurs are the new-age freedom fighters, who could help the country face its challenges in providing jobs to all and develop the nation.

Speaking at the annual members’ meet of the foundation, in Madurai on Saturday, Pandiarajan said that there was a big difference between start-ups and micro, small and medium industries (MSMEs). An entrepreneurial venture with a potential for scaling up was a start-up. She said that many start-ups fail because the money they get from venture capitals is not deployed properly and managing finances was a crucial aspect of any venture.

Also, the valuation exercise where start-ups are validated and funded, does not always give the right picture. It has been revealed that only one in ten start-up ventures succeed and organisations like Nativelead should aim at encouraging and handholding new age entrepreneurs to enhance their success rate, she said.

Nativelead functioned with the goal of encouraging new age entrepreneurs in the tier-two and tier three cities, to prevent migration and urbanization and retain talent in their native region and help them grow. Now, it has launched the ‘Native connect’, to help successful entrepreneurs in Chennai, who had their roots in the tier two and tier three cities to give back to their native region.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Young Indians (YI) Madurai chapter and Nativelead for promoting entrepreneurship in colleges.

Chairman, Madurai chapter of Nativelead, Dr S Rajamohan said that they are bridging the gap between Madurai and city’s like Coimbatore, in terms of industrial growth, and entrepreneurship was what they were focused on.