Create nimble economy by bringing MSMEs, startups together, says expert

CHENNAI: Creating a nimble economy by bringing together the MSMEs and Startupsis the solution for the growth of Tamil Nadu, opined Ravi Narayan, Senior Advisor for Startup Genome and a former CEO of T-hub during a panel discussion at the Global Investors Summit 2024.

Speaking about the panel discussion on the Startup Investors Summit at the GIM 2024, Ravi Narayan said, “Lot of times, we speak about startups, we talk about how to accelerate them with more incubators and more funds. But, we often forget the demand side of innovation and who needs the innovation and why innovation is important. Innovations are important because the world’s market is changing rapidly. So, we need more innovations. While we compare the COVID-19 pandemic, after the pandemic so many digital services were created across the globe. Large companies including Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 in the US, only half of them will survive if they fail to continue innovating very fast.”

“When large organisations want to innovate, they actually have to rely upon nimbleness, creativity and discontinuous thinking. For them, this is a very important element. In Tamil Nadu, the manufacturing sector is being super developed across the state in various sectors. It is an opportunity for them to think about how to bring in advanced manufacturing such as robotics, Artificial Intelligence. If you (startups) create a demand, then automatically you will get suppliers. We have to think about taking this ecosystem to the next level. We have to create more demands. Using the new technologies in the manufacturing sector, will change the game,” he explained.

Further, Narayan said the MSMEs and the startups are different from each other and the banks treat each other differently.

“MSMEs should be very innovative and need not run behind just profit. They can also be very nimble. Creating a nimble economy by bringing together the MSMEs and startups is the question for Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu has to think about it. Because, the GDP of Tamil Nadu is number 2 and the industry manufacturing sector is enormously contributing to the state’s GDP,” added Ravi Narayan.

Adding to the vibrant discussions at the GIM 2024, the creators of the immensely popular ‘Village Cooking Channel’, boasting 23.4 million YouTube subscribers, shared their insights during a panel discussion.