Sambalpur(Odisha): IIM Sambalpur, one of the third generation IIMs of the country, Thursday announced the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India SME Forum.

The Mission of India SME forum is to foster the development of a flourishing entrepreneurial culture and a competitive SME sector to support economic development, which conjugates with IIM-S’s vision of creating entrepreneurs and future business leaders. In this disruptive era, IIM Sambalpur, has built a strong foundation around 3D’s (Digitalisation, De-carbonisation and Democratisation of Business), the institution is prepared for this post-digital era, following a model of blended pedagogy, combining the advantages of both online and traditional classroom education. To make learning avant-garde this MOU will prepare their students under the able supervision of India SME Forum whose members will mentor them towards leadership and intrapreneurship fellowship for enterprises.

The MOU was signed through a virtual conference in the presence of IIM-S director Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal, and renowned brand & marketing guru, Prahlad Kakkar.

The MoU was signed by Merlin Nandy, chair, SME Incubation, IIM-S Merlin Nandy and director general, India SME Forum and Asian Centre for Economic & Entrepreneurship Development and Education (ACEEDE), Sushma Morthania.

Also present were vice chairman, India SME Forum, JS Juneja, president India SME forum Vinod Kumar,CEO, Global Talent Company Ltd. DK Bakshi, and senior admin officer, IIM-S Mahesh Kumar.

Speaking about the signing of the MOU, IIM-S director Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal said, “This association is a big step towards educating, mentoring and inspiring the willing and able start-ups and SMEs that have the potential to be world class enterprises. This will alsooffer then the platform to imbibe global best practices for sustaining long term growth. As part of the MOU, IIM Sambalpur in collaboration with the India SME Forum will develop and conduct programs on leadership and entrepreneurship development for SME, SC/ST, Women Executives/ Enterprises across sectors in the country. Our country needs new business leaders with renewed vision and ability to challenge the normal, this is a giant leap towards achieving that objective. IIM Sambalpur has earlier signed MOU with Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India and launched SME Incubation Centre with the vision to promote startup and entrepreneurship.”

Director General, India SME Forum and ACEEDE, Sushma Morthania said, “We are glad to associate with a dynamic new age management institute like IIM Sambalpur. The MOU will facilitate the mutual sharing of best practices and expertise increation of new entrepreneurs in the country. With over 76,000 members and over 5,00,000 registered SMEs, India SME forum is today India’s largest SME Initiative. Our experience can guidethe aspirants and provides optimal framework for learning, allowing significant benefit for many graduate students, both academically and in terms of setting them apart in the job market.”

The Asian Centre for Economic & Entrepreneurship Development & Education, is an integral part of the India SME Forum’s objective to enable entrepreneurship for a widespread economic impact. India SME Forum is among the three national MSME organisations to find place on the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of MSME, Government of India.The Forum is an ex-officio gazetted member of India’s National Board of MSME, the apex MSME Statutory Body, since 2015, a Member of the High Powered Monitoring Committee of the National SC/ST HUB under Stand Up India and a Member of the RBI’s Standing Advisory Committee on Flow of Institutional Credit to MSME Sector, apart from contributing to various national and international think tanks, on the MSME & Entrepreneurial ecosystem.