Master Class Session

SMEs can now raise equity capital for growth thru Initial Public Offering (IPO). Apart from eliminating cash outflows for regular interest payments, IPOs bring respectability for SMEs among their customers, business partners and employees. This session will provide a hands-on step by step guide on how to prepare for IPO listing.

Many SMEs have tested product market proposition with loyal customers and profitable business. What they lack is ambition! They are well placed to grow many-fold by expanding their markets – within Indian and internationally and extend their product range. This session will provide a framework to identify whether and how a SME can scale up 10X in 7 years or less.

MSMEs are the backbone of Indian economy; they create many jobs. Central & State governments have several schemes to assist MSMEs in a variety of ways. Many MSMEs are not aware of these schemes and fail to benefit from these. This session will provide a holistic overview of all the main schemes and guide the MSME owners on how they can avail of and benefit from these schemes

Long term value creation and capture require creation of Intellectual Property Rights. This requires a timely effort to apply for and obtain copyright and IPR in various jurisdictions within and outside India. Government and many agencies help MSMEs obtain these rights at highly subsidized rates. This session will provide MSME owners a step by step guide.

Government of Indian spends INR 4 trillion every year; this is about 15% of GDP. Government has streamlined procurements by Government departments, agencies, and some PSUs thru Government eMarketplace (GEMS). This session will provide step by step guidance on MSMEs can register in GEMS and sell to Government. Its easier than what you think.

While bulk shipments are subject to taxes and tariffs, smaller shipments for personal use with value not exceeding USD 1200 (Rs 1 lakh) are exempt or pay nominal 4% tax in developed countries like USA. Many MSMEs can now generate demand from Amazon marketplace in USA and use Amazon Global Sellers to fulfill such orders at a huge margin. Learn how you can benefit from this D2C way to serve International high margin customer.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is in news every day, and is likely to redefine how we do live, work, entertain and more. This session will discuss the key AI tools that a MSME can use to improve productivity, improve customer service, and grow its business. No prior knowledge of AI is needed.

Government of India allocates about 6 lakh crores to defense of which nearly half is spent on the purchase of goods and services while the rest goes to salaries and pensions etc. Government is keen to get Indian companies MSMEs develop and supply products to DRDO as a part of its strategy to reduce imports. This session will outline opportunities for MSME in the defense sector.

India experienced nearly 90 Million cyber-attacks in 2024 and lost over 5000 Crores to cyber criminals. As MSMEs adopt digital technologies, they must be aware of cyber risks and take proactive measures to identify and manage potential risks. This session will provide MSME owners a check list of precautions they should take.

20% of MSMEs are owned by women with mostly concentrated in micro segment. Women MSME owners face some unique challenges. This session will discuss these challenges and, schemes the central and state governments offer to help women business owners.

In addition to the financial capital, MSMEs also suffer from the lack of human capital. For them to thrive, the MSMEs need to attract and retain high quality work force and develop and train the leaders to support their growth plans. This session will share how MSMEs can achieve that and share success stories of selected MSMEs and their growth stories.

Succession planning is a big challenge for many successful MSMEs. At times, their children wish to pursue their own dreams and don’t want to work in the family business; the business owner must start working an exit strategy early on. Even if children want to join the business, they have very different ideas amplifying the inter-generational differences that need to be carefully managed. This session will provide practical insights to the business owners.

This spotlight session will provide a glimpse of business opportunities in international markets like Saudi. Multiple sessions may be planned that will be conducted by respective embassies, Indian consul offices or established consulting organizations.

MSMEs can also pursue growth within India and overseas through inorganic strategies. Many international companies are looking to partner and invest in Indian companies. In this session, we will help owners identify suitable inorganic growth strategies and how they can execute these and related brand and tech licensing options.