To assist MSMEs chart a roadmap towards recovery fuelled by digital transformation
Hon’ble Minister Nitin Gadkari, MSME, Government of India delivered the keynote speech at the virtual summit, speaking at length about SMEs’ strength and skill to power their journey towards self-reliance
Moneycontrol, the market leader in business and finance news with a stellar record of providing the most authentic and valuable information to its users, successfully concluded its ‘Small Business Virtual Summit’ in association with CISCO on July 17, 2020.
Thousands of SMEs in India are reeling under the effect of the coronavirus lockdown and helping them hit the road to recovery was the need of the hour. Through the theme of #RuknaManaHai, the virtual summit was aimed at helping MSME owners build business resilience and chart out a roadmap towards growth through digitalisation.
The keynote address at the summit was delivered by Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari, the Hon’ble Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India, who emphasised that how small businesses have the skills to power their journey towards self-reliance. “At present, we are facing a lot of challenges at the economy front. But I want to assure everyone that the government is positive and supportive, and is being a facilitator of change in promoting industries, trade and businesses. In the face of uncertainty, this is the time for cooperation from all stakeholders. We must plan and adopt an appropriate vision and move fast towards it. There is a huge potential for export, and we are formulating conducive policies for agro, forest, and rural MSMEs with an aim to create more potential jobs for the youth. With the launch of our MSME portal ‘Champion’, we seek to resolve the problems that Indian businesses are facing,” he said at the summit.
The summit also featured industry stalwarts such as Gopal Pillai, Vice President, Seller Services – Amazon India, Divya Sethi, Head of Emerging Business – Airtel Business, Mahanthesha Kestur Adaviswamy, Managing Director – Teleindia Networks, Panish PK, Managing Director – Small Business, CISCO India, and more. The galaxy of esteemed panellists discussed the importance of digital transformation and why it was important for small businesses to get on the digital bandwagon.
The summit focused on addressing the many challenges affecting small businesses including lack of access to working capital, access to resell, and access to human resources. Laying emphasis on digitization, the discussions provided actionable solutions such as collaborative technology, relevance of cybersecurity, cloud investments and implementation of AI tools.
In a bid to curate an insightful and engaging virtual summit, Moneycontrol joined forces with CISCO India, a company renowned for developing exceptional technology solutions to empower small businesses thrive. With Moneycontrol and CISCO bringing together their combined expertise on powering the small business growth engine, they were able to create an engaging event garnering over 12,500 registrations overall.