Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kostadin Kolarov was one of the three invited speakers in the Panel Discussion “Entrepreneurial Ecosystem” at the International Conference on Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in the Global Economy: Role of Returnee Entrepreneurs", 9 – 11 January 2025, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. The other speakers in this panel were Prof. Dr. Gita Surie from Adelphi University, New York, USA, and Prof. Dr. Alexander Brem from the University of Stuttgart, Germany.

Prof. Dr. M H Bala Subrahmanya, Conference Chair	Moment from the Welcome ceremony
Prof. Dr. Gita Surie, Adelphi University, New York, USA	Prof. Dr. Alexander Brem, University of Stuttgart, Germany
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kostadin Kolarov presenting his research topic	With Prof. Charan Singh, CEO and Founder Director, EGROW Foundation

 

The invitation to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kostadin Kolarov was extended by the Conference Chairman, Prof. Dr. M H Bala Subrahmanya from the Department of Management Studies of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore.

Moment from the Inaugural ceremony

The Inaugural ceremony of the conference was held under the chairmanship of Prof. K V S Hari, Director, Centre for Brain Research, IISc, and was attended by the Guests of Honour Dr. Shama Bhat, Founder and Chairman, Bhat Biotech India Pvt. Ltd., Prof. Vivek Wadhwa, CEO, Vionix Biosciences, Adjunct Professor at Duke and Carnegie Mellon University, Ms. Shanti Mohan, Co-founder and CEO of Trica, and CEO of LetsVenture, and the Advisory Committee Chairman Prof. K L Krishna, Former Director, Delhi School of Economics.

The Participants in the Inaugural Ceremony

Other Guests of Honour at the international conference were Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore, Mr. Percy Rajani, Founder, ZettaChi Inc., Dr. Nitin Mehta, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Color Tokens, Prof. Govindan Rangarajan, Director, IIM, Bangalore, and Prof. Noel J Lindsay, Dean of Business, Adelaide Business School, and Pro Vice Chancellor Entrepreneurship, The University of Adelaide, Australia.

 Other invited speakers were:

• on the theme “Innovation”: Prof. Avvari Mohan, Monash University, Malaysia, Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), Bangalore, and Dr. Joanna Stryjek, Warsaw School of Economics, Poland;
• on the theme “Role of Institutions to Promote Entrepreneurship”: Dr. Nirmalya Bagchi, ASCI Business School, Dr. Bhaskar Bhowmick, IIT Kharagpur, and Prof. Charan Singh, CEO and Founder Director, EGROW Foundation;
• on the theme “Returnee Entrepreneurship”: Prof Jagannadha Pawan Tamvada, Kingston Business School, UK, Dr. Lakshmi Jagannathan, IIIT Bangalore, and Dr. Amitendu Palit
• Institute of South Asian Studies, NUS, Singapore;
• on the theme “Technology Ecosystem”:  Prof. Arun D Upadhyay, Florida International University, Miami, USA, Prof. Rekha Rao-Nicholson, Essex Business School, UK, and Dr. Sujit Bhattacharya, CSIR - NIScPR;
• on the theme “Incubator”:  Dr. Rajeev Kamineni, Adelaide Business School, Australia, Prof. Arun Kumar G, IIT Madras, Chennai, and Prof. Rosemond Aboagyewa Boohene, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Professor of Enterprise Development, Centre for Entrepreneurship and Small Enterprise Development, School of Business, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.       

The conference organized panel discussions on the topics “Is There a Need for an Exclusive Policy for Returnee Entrepreneurs in India?”, “Women Entrepreneurship for Tech Startups”, “Intellectual Property and Technology Commercialization”, “Financing of Tech Startups – Angels, VCs and Beyond”, “Publishing in Top-Tiered Management Journals”, and “Promoting Entrepreneurship among Young STEM Graduates”, in which prominent scientists, entrepreneurs and professionals participated.

Informal photo with the Conference Co-Chair Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jon Thomas,
University of the Fraser Valley, Canada

In the week after the conference, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kostadin Kolarov was invited by Prof. Dr. M H Bala Subrahmanya to deliver a seminar on “Business Modeling and Business Planning for Startups” to students at the IISc. During the session, Dr. Kolarov provided a comprehensive methodological framework, detailing the key steps involved in developing and implementing effective business models and plans for start-ups. He emphasized the importance of designing smart, highly individualized business strategies while highlighting common pitfalls entrepreneurs face during the planning process. The seminar also explored the relative advantages of different approaches to business modeling, offering practical insights for consultants and aspiring entrepreneurs.

Photo with the participants in the seminar