Bengali and entrepreneur: A contradiction?

For years, Bengal has been a place with the least business development and innovative startups. But with time Bengal emerged out as a place for startups. Bengalis started laying their hands-on business and excelling in it.

Bengali and entrepreneur: A contradiction?

Bengali and entrepreneur these two words, for decades are seen as a contradiction to people. The days when leftist ideology ruled, one could sense the disdain towards trade. Everyone knew that ‘Bengalis’ and ‘Business’ can never be on the same page. But as Heraclitus said, “Change is the only constant” the connotation of this word too altered, and it is revealed through the financial chit fund scams, real estate, scandals, arrest of Bengali businesspersons, etc. 

Harking back to Bengali’s history to look for superb occurrences of business and an explicitly innovative business venture, these innovative ventures are being characterized here as organizations occupied with areas that convey new advances and cycles for new rising items. Additionally, in this context, top of the line item classes would incorporate those that require more elevated levels of designing mastery and aptitudes for assembling.

 

Bengali ventures emerged during the mid-twentieth century as 'Swadeshi tries' and tried to set up an assembling and modern traction in Colonial India. This was when a large portion of the modern and business infrastructure was in the grasps of the majestic financial exploitative apparatus who were supported by the goal of the British frontier organization to hold the Indian economy immature. One can run through many recognized easily recognized names of this line of Swadeshi business people, similar to Martin Burn of Sir Biren Mookerjee, Bengal Chemicals of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray being the grandees.

Aside from these twin gems, there were Calcutta Chemical Company in the area of synthetic compounds, Bengal Immunity and Dey's Chemicals in the space of drugs, Bengal Lamps in the space of electric lightning items, Bengal Waterproof in the space of elastic and family unit items like overcoats and schoolbags, Bande Mataram in the area of matches, Banga Laxmi Cotton Mills in the area of materials, Sen Raleigh in bikes, and Gwalior Potteries in earthenware stonewares.

Speaking of Contemporary time, startups have succeeded in extending every nook and corner of the country. Technology is both a boon and a curse. It has not only affected the daily lives of an individual but has also collapsed cultural biasedness in many regions of India. West Bengal is the perfect example of this. It has been transformed from a place where the talents migrated in search of a better city or country to invest their potential, to a state where innovation and startups are making a revolution. They have completely altered the game and also added to the state’s economy. Some of the innovative startups in Kolkata are wow momo, Notebook, tea junction, Santa Delivers, etc.

 

Notebook is a startup by Achin Bhattacharyya and Subhayu Roy. It is an Edtech startup that is based in Kolkata. Its motto is to give access to high-quality education to every single child. Achin is responsible for the overall strategy, content design, and finance at Notebook. Subhayu takes care of Marketing, Technology, and Product at Notebook. At present, there are about 50 members in the Notebook team. 

Santa Delivers is a food tech company that is founded by a group of students in Kolkata. It is Specialized in delivering food and beverage between 5 pm and 3 am. Within two years its growth rate has been escalated. The service enables the customers to browse and order from a particular area menu that offers dishes from across cuisines and then can pay using cash or card.

The changing world promises a lot of opportunities. The technology, as well as economic landscape, provides the lucrative and congenial occasion to plunge into entrepreneurial ventures. With the help of technologies, high content of services, access to risk finance venture capital, and reach to global market one can achieve its goal which was the case for the predecessors of Swadeshi enterprises. Today an aspiring entrepreneur doesn’t require huge capital investments and resources in terms of land and factory to foray into cutting-edge sectors with an ingenious idea, courtesy of the vibrant services, and consulting sector. Let not the aspiring Bengali entrepreneurs be mired in dubious financial schemes as a means to affluence and prosperity but look at the broader horizon of new technologies and solutions, and be inspired by the rich legacy of their forefathers, moving forward with inspiration from the past. Breaking the stereotype Kolkata has emerged as a place that promises opportunities for startups.