Telangana becomes the first State in the Country to initiate pioneering work in the growth of Cultural Entrepreneurship.
On the 11th of January, 2023; the Network of Indian Cultural Enterprises (NICEorg) organized an event in partnership with the Telangana State Innovation Cell (TSIC) to establish Telangana not just as a leader in Technological Entrepreneurship, but also, as a pioneer in fostering Cultural Entrepreneurship. This convening was a first-of-its-kind event in the country. The broader aim being to create and nurture successful and valuable cultural brands that will shape Brand Telangana and Brand India.
The event marked the first step in bringing together all important ecosystem stakeholders at a common forum to begin dialogue, network and be an integral part of all initiatives planned to nurture cultural enterprises in the State. The event witnessed a participation of 75+ attendees that included cultural startups, academia including budding entrepreneurs, government stakeholders, funding organizations including venture capitalists and other incubators/accelerators.
Eminent speakers delivering keynote speeches and special addresses included Shri. Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Principal Secretary to ITE&C, Govt. of Telangana; Mr. Sanjay Anandaram, Co-Founder NICEorg; Shri Mamidi HariKrishna, Director, Department of Language & Culture, Government of Telangana and by Dr Shanta Thoutam, Chief Innovation Officer, Government of Telangana. The speakers greatly emphasized the need to look beyond the age-old concept of Culture only in the context of preservation, bring about a mind shift and look at it from a standpoint of economically derived value. This meant boosting the growth of enterprises promoting products and services with Indian Culture being embedded, eventually leading to significant economic growth.
A panel discussion moderated by Ms. Kanchana, COO of NICEorg on the criticality of Building the Cultural Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Telangana brought up a lot of known and subtle nuances that required adoption from the entire ecosystem as a whole to build and grow this space. The panelists included Mr. Siva Devireddy-Founder of GoCoop, Mr. G.V.Krishnagopal-Group CEO of Access Livelihoods Group, Mr. M. Srinivas Rao-CEO of T-Hub, Ms. Vishala Reddy-Founder of Millet Bank & Founder of Jamiti Design Centre & Culture and Creative Industries (CCI) Network, Mr. Sridhar Pabbisetty-Founding Director – Kautilya School of Public Policy and Mr. Arjun Narne- EC Member, Crafts Council of Telangana. In addition to their vast experience and understanding of the space, the panelists brought up various aspects that echoed the necessity of all entrepreneurship ecosystem players to come together in order to nurture and be a part of helping grow cultural enterprises. The panelists unequivocally agreed on the necessity to grow this into a huge momentum almost mimicking the boom of technological entrepreneurship witnessed over the past two decades in the country. The session ended with panelists providing specific inputs that the State Government along with relevant ecosystem players could take forward towards achieving this agenda.
The event concluded with a networking session that had the audience engage in very constructive discussions with other practitioners to exchange notes about their work and explore avenues to collaborate.
