SUMMARY OF PROCEEDINGS : Bengaluru

The 18th forum Secrets of Success on SMEs centered on the objectives of Knowledge sharing and best practices to enhance competitiveness of the Small and Medium entrepreneurs organised by India SME Forum along with Reliance Commercial Finance a division of Reliance Capital, Bharti Airtel, Bank of India, BSE SME . brought to light the perspectives of the opportunities to promote SME sector. India SME Forum empanelled with industry experts and Mentors discussed the potential gateways for SME Competitiveness and what is required to combat issues and adopt right measures of security for their products and services

The Forum was inaugurated by Mr Mr B.P.Shashidhar,President,Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association, Ms. Rupa Rani founder, Confederation of women entrepreneurs,Ms Rekha Gopal,Vice President, Engineering Manufacturer Entrepreneurs Resource Group, Mr Dhanvanti Jain, President, Association of Women Entreprenures of Karnataka Ms Sushma Morthania Director General India SME Forum and Mr Vinod Kumar ,Country Head SDRC& Honorary VP India SME Forum

The participating SMEs at the India SME Forum highly appreciated the forums objectives and support of the programme which gave insights to entrepreneurs to enhance their knowledge on business systems, and instilling a structured approach to strategic planning and business growth. The participants at the forum also had fair amount of very enthusiastic Women Entreprenures

Multiple discussions evolved the significant role of Women entrepreneurs that are highly represented in the micro and small enterprises sub-sector. The concept of promoting women's economic and political empowerment has gained greater attention over a couple of years .

While the nation talks of women empowerment it is imperative that special schemes and simplified quota to avail benefits should be strategized to promote women entreprenures as stated by Ms Rupa Rani Ms. Rupa Rani founder, Confederation of women entrepreneurs,

Mr Vinod Kumar ,Country Head SDRC & Honorary VP, ISF summarized the sessions and spoke about the progressive approach that needs to be adopted by the emerging SMEs highlighting the need for SMEs to fill skill gaps to achieve sustained success by weaving technology into their culture, as the productivity of the SME sector relies on technology and innovation. and use of interactive tools to connect to customers inorder to be globally competitive

He further stated that going forward India SME Forum will organize special trade facilitation exhibitions to showcase the products and services of SMEs, B2B meetings, Mentoring programmes and networking sessions. Taking a step further, ISF will also conduct a guided tour to select and identify 180 cluster development markets across the country. This will help identify opportunities for leveraging support mechanisms in marketing, finance, technology, innovation, finance, skill development, trade and investment.

The Forum was attended by 130 Entreprenures from Bangalore and surrounding clusters