The Indian Institute of Management Nagpur signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (Ni-MSME), Hyderabad (an organization of the Ministry of MSME, GoI) in an online ceremony on Thursday.
The MoU was signed by Dr Bhimaraya Metri (Director, IIM Nagpur) and Ms S. Glory Swarupa (Director-
General, Ni-MSME), with Shri Vaibhav Dange (Advisor, National Highways Authority of India and Member, IIMN Board of Governors), as well as faculty and staff of both institutions in attendance.
The MoU paves way for collaboration in the areas of training, research, consulting and outreach in the domain of management, MSME development, skill development and entrepreneurship, by way of short-term education and training programmes, faculty
development programmes, infrastructure sharing and the development of a campus of IIM Nagpur in Hyderabad.
Speaking on the occasion, Ms S. Glory Swarupa (Director-General, Ni-MSME) said, “The
collaboration between IIM Nagpur and Ni-MSME, Hyderabad is done at the right time when
the entire world as well as India as a nation is undergoing an unprecedented pandemic and
lockdown for social distancing.
The entire world is praying very badly for the end of massive unwanted and untimely death tolls of millions of near and dear ones. This sanitization disruption has impacted the MSME very deeply and threatened the life and livelihood of majority of the population of the country.
Amidst such crisis this collaboration is made with the vision that this will deal with long term executive training, education and research so that it can extend its helping hand to the next generation of entrepreneurs who are the torch
bearers of the light of this devastating disruption and show the light to the human race on sustainable enterprises development, management and growth in the post COVID-19 era.
This collaboration will also help to the entrepreneurs at Hyderabad as well as the entire nation with easy access of knowledge from pioneer institutions such as IIM Nagpur with a specific focus on the MSME sector.”
Addressing the gathering at the event, Dr Bhimaraya Metri (Director, IIM Nagpur) said, “IIM
Nagpur is renowned for its deep corporate relations across various sectors and cutting-edge programs at postgraduate, MBA and PhD levels. To realise the true potential, the cream of the society – bright young minds of India, choose to discover the central point of central India – IIM Nagpur.
IIM Nagpur has ‘IIM Nagpur Foundation for Entrepreneurial Development (InFED)’ – this new
innovation space acts as an experiential learning lab to unlock the limitless potential of early-stage start-up companies, as well as to drive agriculture and MSME growth across India, and Vidarbha region in particular.
We are looking forward to working with Ni-MSME Hyderabad to develop the Transformational Entrepreneurial Strategy that shall enable MSMEs to respond to disruptions in time, and facilitate them to build winning competencies and pole-vaulting to growth through innovations.
Today, IIM Nagpur joining hands with Ni-MSME, through this MoU, will start a new era, opening up new vistas of opportunities to contribute to the practical
application of entrepreneurial competencies and knowledge to build entrepreneurial minds.
We seek to be a trusted adviser to MSMEs, helping them steer away from dated, off-the-shelf models to develop bespoke innovative solutions to grand business challenges of today and tomorrow.”
On this occasion Shri Vaibhav Dange (Advisor, National Highways Authority of India and Member, IIMN Board of Governors), congratulated both the institutes for the collaboration, and related how the MSME sector is crucial for the growth of the economy. He mentioned
that as the second largest employer in the country, MSMEs are key to the goal of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, while also ensuring equal growth for the entire population.
Mr Dange. added that micro and small enterprises stepped up during the pandemic to seek opportunity
and bridge the gaps that we faced as a nation. He expressed his hope that IIM Nagpur and Ni-MSME Hyderabad would together explore ways to reduce import dependency of MSMEs in the coming years, thus enabling the removal of bottlenecks to the development of micro, small and medium enterprises in India.
