OU student's business plan

Updated on: Tuesday, March 02, 2010

It was a defining moment for G.Praveen Kumar, a III year student of B.Tech (Chemical Engineering) from Osmania University College of Engineering, when he made a presentation at the International Science Symposium organised by American Institute of Chemical Engineers(AIchE) at the University of Illinois and Chicago in September 2008. His paper on alternative fuel got good response and was chosen for publication.

One and a half years, and more effort later, he was in for more achievements in a row. His project titled ‘BDPro', delineating the process of producing bio-fuel with cotton as the feedstock, won second place in Ventura 10, an international Business Plan Contest hosted by the National Institute of Technology, Trichy in coordination with Department of Science and Technology.

His single-member team was one among the 500 entries from eight countries who participated in the contest. Thirty-five teams were chosen in the first round and assigned a mentor each. After 45 days spent in development of the project, ten teams were shortlisted and invited to make a presentation. The finals were conducted on February 20 and 21 where Praveen Kumar's project secured the second best position and a Rs.85,000 cash reward.

“So far in India, we have been experimenting with Jatropha seeds as the feedstock for production bio-fuel. However, Jatropha has got its own limitations. It needs to be imported from Indonesia, and chokes the engine too often. I started mulling over the use of cotton as the feedstock, as it is abundantly available in India, and cost-effective too,” said Praveen Kumar while explaining about the project. Praveen Kumar's business plan requires Rs.3.2crore investment.

He says his plan has already found takers in the Technopreneur Promotion Programme of the Department of Science and Technology, Nadathur S.Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning at IIM Bangalore, and the Tiruchchirapalli Regional Engineering College-- Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park which have come forward to invest Rs.One crore each in the plant.

OU student's business plan

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