To provide a common platform for scholars, professionals and budding entrepreneurs working on issues related to entrepreneurship, the Entrepreneurship

forum of St. Francis de Sales College organized a national seminar on Small and Medium Scale Industries: Opportunities and Challenges , on 3rd March 2012. The human history is replete with stories of entrepreneurship and it could be argued and established that our history is the story of entrepreneurship. Money, weights, measures, account keeping and prices existed as early as third millennium BC accelerating a progressive development of Human beings. But at no time in history the concepts entrepreneur and entrepreneurship has been so popular as today. The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector has emerged as a highly vibrant and dynamic sector of the Indian economy over the last five decades. MSMEs not only play crucial role in providing large employment opportunities at comparatively lower capital cost than large industries but also help in industrialization of rural & backward areas, thereby, reducing regional imbalances, assuring more equitable distribution of national income and wealth. MSMEs are complementary to large industries as ancillary units and contribute enormously to the socioeconomic development of the country. At the moment, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) stand for one of the fastest establishing industrial sectors of our country. Liberalization and globalisation has provided a whole lot of opportunities and challenges for the industry as a whole and more so for the MSMEs The seminar highlighted issues on the various opportunities and challenges faced by Micro Small and Medium Scale Industries in the fast changing global economic scenario. While on the one hand, many opportunities are opened up for this sector to enhance productivity and look for new markets at national and international level, it has also, on the other hand, put an obligation to upgrade their competencies to meet the competition as new products are launched at an astonishing pace and are available worldwide in short time. The Seminar was inaugurated by Sri. Dayananda Reddy MLC, President, Bommasandra

Industries Association. The key note address was delivered by an eminent scholar, Prof. Mathew J. Manimala, from Indian Institute of Management ,Bangalore. Mr. K.K.Namboodiri,Group Chairman & CEO, KRISTAL group graced the occasion as the guest of honour. The National Seminar was comprised of two technical sessions, which included paper presentation and panel

discussion. Each session was chaired by renowned expert related to the theme of the seminar. The list of dignitaries who deliberated and discussed on the issues of entrepreneurship included, Mr.Rafiullah Baig, Founder President, Handwriting Institute India, Prof. Rajdeep Manwani, Dean.Department of commerce and Management, Jain University, Mr.Srinath Setty, CEO, Gift wrapped, Mr.Soundra Kumar, Founder & CEO, Zion Technologies, Mr. John Cherian, Former Associate Manager, People Function: MindTree Limited, Mr. P.V. Kurian, MD, Joy Industries A large number of papers have been received from various professionals, research scholars and students on Micro Small & Medium Scale Industries Opportunities and Challenges and after rigorous review process 15 of them were selected by the seminar coordination committee. ..was selected as the best paper of the seminar.

ORIENTATION A two-day training programme was organized by the college for the faculty on 17 th and 18th of June 2011. The orientation programmes was designed to further and sensitise the teachers about innovative ways of imparting quality education. The training programme focused on different areas related to Education and Teaching Methodologies. Prof.Vinod Kumar, from the Chemistry Department of Christ University was the resource person. The prime objective of the orientation programme was to discuss in detail the structural and procedural aspects of enabling educational structures working especially at the grassroots level for ensuring quality education and teaching. During the session he deliberated trends in teaching practices and philosophies, keeping measurable targets, team work, imparting I can attitude among students, what education is not, responsibilities as teachers and concluded the session by emphasising the fact that the teachers should be continuous learners.

DESMA ACTIVITIES

Activities of the Department

Inauguration: With the inauguration of De Sales Management Association (DESMA) on 15th July 2011 , the departmental activities were geared up for the academic year 2011- 2012.The students benefited a lot with the presence and the talks of the chief guest Mr. Rakesh Sud, Acharya College of Management and Science, Bangalore, the resource persons S.Manoharan, ,IFIM B school, Bangalore, and Mr.Rajesh, HOD, PESSE college, Bangalore. During the inauguration the departments newsletter was released by Rev.Fr. Antony Swamy, the principal of the college. After inauguration students transformed themselves as tycoons and capitalized on their core competencies with the exhibition cum sale of various products and services.

Soft skills and Personality development programme was organized by the department for the students to identify and blend themselves in a better way with the corporate ambience. The programme was conducted by well known training specialist from career Forum. As a part of the programme various magazines and business related newspapers are circulated to the students to acquaint themselves with the day to day business affairs and trends. CAT training was provided by career forum to the students who were aspiring to pursue their masters in business administration. The training was perceived to be a facilitator for an easy entrant to reputed colleges and universities.

Events organized by the department

To bring out the hidden talents in students, to inspire them to give a best expression to their abilities and talents, Intera-collegiate Poster and video making competition was organised on How you can make a difference and Presentation competition on Patriotism and Independent India. The winners of the different events were honoured during the national seminar.

Industrial visits Students were given an opportunity to visit BEML Mysore and Bilforge, Bangalore to have a clear view and understanding of an organizational unit. These visits helped them to relate their curriculum knowledge with their industrial visit experiences.

Other events A Debate competition was organised on the Relevance and scope of Human Resource Management vs Finance. It was a wonderful opportunity for the students to give an explicit expression to their thought provoking ideas on the relevance of human resources and Finance in business administration. Street play on Save the Environment and a quiz competition were

organized to as a part of HR and Finance club activities.

Faculty development programme was conducted for all the teachers from the department of commerce and management on Guiding the Project Thesis. The Faculty Development

Programme shed light on how to get work done by the students and how to motivate and encourage them to come up with good project works. The resourceperson Mr. CNB. Rajesh made valuable interventions and clarified many issues on the topic.

An interactive programme with the out gone students of the department was organised to highlight and share their experiences with present students. It was an enriching experience for everyone to share their views and exchange opinions for the future growth and development.