Asian School of Business – which is a part of Asian Education Group and is ranked as one of the best undergraduate B-schools in Delhi NCR – welcomed its new batch of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and Bachelor of Computer Application (BCA) by launching a grand week-long Orientation Programme scheduled from Monday, 19th October 2020 to Saturday, 31st October 2020. In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and keeping in mind the social distancing norms, this programme was however organized virtually to benefit the students who were about to begin a new phase in their academic life.
Day 4 of the ASB BBA & BCA Orientation Programme 2020 – i.e., Friday, 23rd October 2020 – was dedicated to a highly interesting and deeply engrossing introductory session on Asian School of Business’s Entrepreneurship Development & Incubation Centre (EDIC) that aims to enable the students to be more creative and self-confident in taking rational risk in starting an enterprise and encourage innovative business start-ups and facilitate them through research and consultancy.
The day also marked the grand finale of “YOUNG ASIAN BRAND MASTERS COMPETITION 2020” – essentially a Business Plan Competition – wherein Ms. Swati Bhargava, Co-Founder CashKaro (India’s largest Cashback & Coupons site) & EarnKaro was the ‘Guest of Honour’ who not only presented an exciting account of her entrepreneurial journey and shared some priceless insights to becoming a successful entrepreneur, but also declared the winner for YABMC 2020.
Currently Co-Chair of H2 India (a Global leadership network for the digital industry), Ms. Swati Bhargava made it to the Fortune 40 under 40 list in June 2019. An alumnus of the London School of Economics who has worked at Goldman Sachs in London for 5 years, she is honored amongst top 10 women entrepreneurs in India and is also an acclaimed Social Media influencer. She has also represented India at the coveted Blackbox Connect – Female Founders Edition – powered by Google in Silicon Valley, California and is an active keynote speaker in India and internationally.
In her Guest of Honour address at ASB BBA & BCA Orientation Programme 2020 delivered from virtual platform, Ms. Swati Bhargava at first thanked Ms. Garima Malhotra of ASB for her introduction and then congratulated the students on this important day of their academic life. She then nostalgically shared her life and experiences in setting up her venture, CashKaro.com- India’s largest Cashback & Coupons website.
She started her story by stating that she initially had no idea that she wanted to start this venture. In fact, according to her, she was a regular girl from a regular family from the small town of Ambala, India. She said, “I was fortunate enough to secure a scholarship from the Government of Singapore and then another which took me to The London School of Economics (LSE). Fresh out of LSE, I worked my way up the corporate ladder at Goldman Sachs, in London and after 5 enlightening years at Goldman Sachs, I started a UK based Cashback business – Pouring Pounds along with my husband & Co-Founder, Rohan Bhargava. We then brought the concept to India & launched CashKaro.com. Today CashKaro is the only VC backed cashback site and has raised ~$4 million in Series A funding led by Kalaari Capital. And, we have also raised investment from Mr Ratan Tata, former Chairman, Tata Sons.”
Believing in inspiring others to aspire for more, Ms. Swati Bhargava then shared her 5 powerful tips to the students who aspired to become an entrepreneur. The first thing that she said was, “If you have no idea what you would like to do in life, just be the best version of yourself. However, reject mediocrity as an idea and raise your bar and find something that is worth doing and just do it well!” The second tip was, “Build good habits and follow a personal routine.” The third tip was, “Avoid distractions that make you less productive.” The fourth tip was, “Visualize your success on daily basis.” And, the fifth tip was, “Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and remember that networking is not bad.”
Following a brief Q&A session, the day’s session entered into the last leg with a review of the business plan submissions made by students as part of the “YOUNG ASIAN BRAND MASTERS COMPETITION 2020” grand finale proceedings. Out of several presentations, 5 were shortlisted for consideration of the winner of the YABMC 2020 Business Plan Competition. The criteria for selection was a review of “Name, Logo Design/Tagline, Selling Propositions & Advertisement Plan.”
Ms. Swati Bhargava confessed that she was impressed with the “amazing ideas” presented at this competition and said that “all 5 shortlisted submissions had the potential to become successful.” Stating that it was difficult to choose one among them as best, she declared Ms. Anuska Singh’s business idea of “IMMUNOGEN Drink” as the winner for this year’s “YOUNG ASIAN BRAND MASTERS COMPETITION”.
With this, this most exciting session with the young, dynamic and hugely successful entrepreneur – Ms. Swati Bhargava, Co-Founder CashKaro (India’s largest Cashback & Coupons site) & EarnKaro – came to a fitting end!