- Ronnie Screwvala, producer of ‘Chennai Express’ fame and owner of many entrepreneurial ventures, visited LPU today
- The occasion was a one day symposium for students, on the theme ‘Be a Job Creator’
- His online education company-UpGrad signed an MoU with LPU for a short-term course in the field of entrepreneurship
- He shared the successes of his entrepreneurial journey with the students
- “Entrepreneurship is a journey, not an outing.”, Ronnie
- “Education in India needs disruption”, Ronnie
Renowned Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist Ronnie Screwvala visited Lovely Professional University today to grace the one day symposium on ‘Be a Job Creator’. He is the founder of the UTV Group, Unilazer Ventures Ltd, the online education company-UpGrad, and the Swadesh Foundation, and has been listed by www.esquire.com as one of 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century. His online education company-UpGrad has signed an MoU with LPU for a 15 week, short-term course in the field of Entrepreneurship.
The Shanti Devi Mittal auditorium of LPU rang with applause as Ronnie gave a rousing talk, motivating students to be job-creators and put India on a new road to growth. He shared the successes of his long entrepreneurial journey with LPU students, urging them to forge their own entrepreneurial paths. Indeed, his rise from a cable TV operator to the celebrated producer of many acclaimed Tollywood and Bollywood movies, including the super hit ‘Chennai Express’, is an inspiring illustration of where grit and a willingness to take a chance can reach one.
Ronnie gifted LPU students 30,000 copies of his best-seller ‘Dream with Your Eyes Open’, and thanked LPU management for inviting him to the symposium. He ended his address on this piece of advice, “Entrepreneurship is a journey, not an outing. You can make a deal with yourself by saying, ‘I am going to try this out for two years and see’. Instead, entrepreneurship is about living life on your own terms. We are all entrepreneurs by nature. On these lines, there is nothing wrong on having a new wave of first generation family business. Entrepreneurship is exposure and extremely interactive.”
In an interactive session with Ronnie the students asked him questions on everything from his personal life to his views on the current educational scenario. According to Ronnie, “Education in India needs disruption. We are seeing disruption across all sectors and levels, all of which is helping us in reimagining the world around us. Education is also a great sector that has a lot of opportunities. It is to be tapped with an innovative approach.”
Ronnie’s companion, Mr. Mayank from UpGrad, informed the students that, “Our online education program is a new area program which will produce entrepreneurs who will further interact with venture capitalists to give their ideas complete entrepreneurship forms. The true value of education comes when you are able to translate real life situations into positive aspects.”
Thanking the elite guests, LPU Chancellor Mr Ashok Mittal said, “We will be proud to send many illustrious entrepreneurs to the society through such mammoth endeavours. In fact, we want our university to be known as creating and developing a lot of entrepreneurs. I am sure that under such initiatives India will certainly be a supreme example of being job creator for the world.”
