At EDII convocation, startups drown placement chatter

Ahmedabad: For many graduating students, convocation day is about placements and salary packages. But at the 25th convocation ceremony of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) on Monday, several students stood out for already building startups while still on campus.

Among the 98 students who received their degrees was 26-year-old Saubhagyavardhan Shukla, founder of ReWork, a platform designed to connect retired professionals with industries seeking experienced talent.

“I come from a family of academicians, and I often heard my parents wonder what life after retirement would look like. It made me realize the untapped potential of retirees that can contribute meaningfully to society. It was the idea behind ReWork, a platform that helps the retirees connect with industry,” said Shukla. He added that the venture received a seed grant under the Student Startup and Innovation Policy (SSIP) and is currently undergoing incubation at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

The convocation ceremony was attended by Vinai Kumar Saxena as the chief guest. Rakesh Sharma, president of EDII and managing director and CEO of IDBI Bank, along with members of the institute’s governing board, were also present.

A total of 98 students graduated this year, including 76 from PGDM-E, eight from PGDM-IEV, 11 from PGDM-Online, and three scholars from the Fellow Programme in Management (FPM).

“The start-up wave is impressing upon our youth to adopt entrepreneurship as a career. I am also happy to state that the significance of training and mentorship to create entrepreneurs has got established like never before,” said Dr Sunil Shukla, director general of EDII.

Another student entrepreneur from the graduating batch was 24-year-old Ahmedabad-based Anshika Gupta, founder of TANB Virtual Infra. The startup focuses on providing localised Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions for MSMEs and government enterprises.

“I come from a family of IITians and observing the industry workflow, I decided to address operational disruptions caused by server downtime and expensive cloud infrastructure,” Gupta said. She added that the startup is currently bootstrapped and aims to provide secure, scalable and affordable digital infrastructure solutions.

Meanwhile, 22-year-old Nishant Patel from Surat launched MonQura, a startup manufacturing sweeteners derived from monk fruit. “With diabetes becoming increasingly common in India, I started exploring healthier alternatives to sugar, which eventually led to the idea,” Patel said.