Visit to the Bengal Global Trade Expo: 2023

An Orientation session on The Bengal Global Trade Expo, 2023 was conducted by the college on 17th of January, 2023 to initiate the students for the upcoming Bengal Global Trade Expo, to be held from the 25th January to the 29th of January 2023. Mr. N. Kapadia, the secretary of the BGTE, 2023 spoke about BESC taking part in the event from the very onset. He told the students that it would be a great opportunity for them to not only learn but gain experience at the Expo where the BGTE also calls upon other organizations to work alongside them. Explaining the importance of startups in this generation, the main speaker for the orientation, Mr. Aaquib Hussain, the Founder of Free Flow and Strategy spoke on startups and how to get one started by motivating them to ideate their own startup strategies.

On 27th January 2023, the Morning Department of Commerce, under the mentorship of Dean of Student Affairs, Prof Dilip Shah and Coordinator of Morning Dept. Prof. Minakshi Chaturvedi arranged for the student visit. Under the leadership of Prof. Govind Dewan & Prof. Vivek Patwari 50 students were taken to the Bengal Trade Expo. The first segment was an Orientation before the seminar conducted by Mr. Tarun Ayitham, the CEO of Startup Deep Thought who spoke with the attendees about the culture of startup in the context of the thought process of a Founder. He also discussed the skills and quality a startup recruiter looks for in an intern or an employee. He further shared about the opportunities students have in working with a startup, as this new market offers jobs in product management and data analytics.

The Expo also hosted a Seminar on EV: Learned Representatives from companies like Ola Electric and Snap-e who were sharing their experience and thoughts on electric vehicles and the difficulty that the industry is facing. The panel discussed the price comparison ratio of EV and ICE Engine vehicles with respect to purchase, gas cost and maintenance. Their discussion extended to the problems consumers are facing in switching to EV and ended with small ideas they plan to execute in the future.

The EXPO Exhibition consisted of stalls of various enterprises from all kinds of industries. The stalls were owned by entrepreneurs having great expertise, facilitating one on one interaction with the visitors. Most of the business were of the new age market, product design, dealership and services.

The fourth segment of the EXPO was Pitching, a major event of the expo where the pitch was done by startups seeking funds and guidance of the mentors at the same time. The founders were very professional and full of new strategies while the investors had some great questions about the different aspects of each business. In all, the EXPO was an eye opener for budding student entrepreneurs, who gained immediate insight on how to run a business & its myriad facets.

Trade Fairs are a powerful marketing medium, bringing together thousands of international buyers and sellers in one place in a short span of time. Providing visitors with a comprehensive overview of the market, the Expo’s main objective was to familiarize students with the real-life scenario of the industry working environment and to provide practical exposure. Everyone hoped for this visit to happen each year adding to the student’s exposure and motivation.