Ajit Jogi inaugurates Chhattisgarh stall at the TiEcon 2002

Ajit Jogi, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, inaugurated the Chhattisgarh stall

at TiEcon 2002, the world's largest conference on entrepreneurship at the Westin

Hotel and Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. The

conference is organized by The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE), a global,

not-for-profit organization created for the advancement of entrepreneurship.

TiEcon 2002, the 9th annual TiE conference, is a platform for entrepreneurs to

gain knowledge, inspiration and an invaluable network of contacts.

At the conference, Chhattisgarh highlighted the themes of Information

Technology and the potential for Biotechnology development in the state through

11 panels in the stall.

Speaking on the occasion, Jogi said, "Chhattisgarh is a land of

opportunities. Good Governance and Good Infrastructure, backed by Good Human

Resources, make it the ideal state for investment and development. The

overarching priorities for the new state are programs in rural

industrialization, value addition in food processing and agriculture sectors,

downstream industries exploiting the state's incredible mineral wealth, and an

education system of international standards."

Jogi spent more than two hours discussing development issues with Prof CK

Prahlad, one of the foremost management thinkers in the world and Professor of

Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan.

Kanwal Rekhi one of the founders of TiE and currently on the Board of the

Global TiE Foundation, called on the Chief Minister at the Chhattisgarh Room,

arranged for his interactions at the Westin Hotel in Santa Clara.

Rekhi took a keen interest in the Chhattisgarh Government's decision to cap

establishment costs at 40 per cent of its revenue.

He sought details of the Investment Promotion Act and the Private

Universities Act, which are unique to Chhattisgarh. He agreed with Jogi that a

massive effort was required through private-public partnership for setting up a

number of Centers of Excellence in Higher Education.

Jogi also met with several other Indian luminaries, who through their

enterprise have excelled in the information technology industry in Silicon

Valley. Notable among were KB Chandrasekhar, formerly of Exodus; Som Das of

e4eVentures; Shankar Trivedi, VP (Global Marketing), Sun Microsystems; and

Shailesh Mehta, former CEO, Providian Bank and a Trustee of the Board of the

California State University System.

Jogi, who is extremely keen to build quality higher education infrastructure

in Chhattisgarh, also received Dr Norma Rees, President of the California State

University, Hayward with a student enrollment of 385,000. This university offers

degrees or joint programs in collaboration with local universities at Beijing,

Singapore, Hong Kong, Moscow, Vienna, and Sao Paulo, among others. Dr Rees took

keen interest in Private Universities Act and discussed possibilities of mutual

ventures in the state of Chhattisgarh.

The members of the executive committee of the Federation of Indo-American

Associations, an umbrella organization of persons of Indian origin, also called

on the Chief Minister and felicitated him.

Cyber News Service