T.N. Startup Summit: Mindset shift crucial to building global brands from small towns, note panellists
Mindset shift is the need of the hour to build global brands from small towns. This was one of the key deliberations at a session organised as part of The Hindu-Tamil Nadu Startup Summit 2025 in the city on Thursday.
The summit was hosted by The Hindu along with SRM Institute of Science and Technology and co-presented by StartupTN in association with Sify Technologies.
Tracing The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE)-Chennai's journey in inspiring, mentoring and networking entrepreneurs, its executive director, Akhila Rajeswar, said the organisation was now present in 37 districts across the State. She was addressing the session on 'Nurturing Entrepreneurship in south Tamil Nadu: Opportunities and Challenges.'
TiE had now turned its focus from startups to micro, small and medium enterprises and holds networking events in vernacular language to be more accessible to entrepreneurs in the State, she said. Retention of talent, digital divide and lack of resources were some of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in south Tamil Nadu.
Panellists also spoke on the self-imposed constraints among the entrepreneurs in the southern districts which were restricting them from scaling up their business.
On the funding pattern and investors, Chandu Nair, startup advisor and member, executive board, The Chennai Angels, said Tamil Nadu was yet to develop a robust ecosystem of entrepreneurs and enterprises interested in funding startups through efforts like equity investment.
Regulations by various government authorities were another deterrent for aspiring entrepreneurs. Nearly 65% of the regulatory reforms fall within the purview of the State. Besides revamping education for research, entrepreneurs must draw examples from other countries like Israel and Vietnam that have built thriving business ecosystem.
Describing south Tamil Nadu as trade zone, Sivakumar Palanisamy, vice-president, StartupTN, said many entrepreneurs were reluctant partially due to fear of failures and called for a change of mindset. Startup TN, with regional hubs in various places, had learnt that southern districts did not imitate entrepreneurship in urbanscape but created their own identity and promoted their culture and traditions through their ventures, he added.
A framework was being built in south Tamil Nadu, taking into account affordability, accessibility and availability. It was time to prepare the workforce for AI driven future and create new streams of business models, Mr. Palanisamy said. Panelists underlined the need to prepare entrepreneurs to experiment and explore their potential to build international brands. Sangeetha Kandavel, Senior Assistant Editor, The Hindu, moderated the session.
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