CHENNAI: A student from IIT Madras who has won the Global Student Entrepreneur Award (GSEA) for his entrepreneurial venture will soon compete against contestants from 20 other countries. Kishore Natrajan, who operates HyperVerge Inc will get a chance to win $150,000 in cash. The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) is a global competition for undergraduate and graduate students who own and operate businesses. Founded in 1998 by Saint Louis University, GSEA is now an Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) program. EO is a global business network of more than 10,000 business owners in 144 chapters and 46 countries. Founded in 1987, EO enables small and large business owners to learn from each other.

The final round held in Chennai witnessed 20 minute business pitch presentations by two finalists to a panel of judges including R G Chandramogan, Chairman & MD, Hatsun Agro Products. The students were questioned on the business prospects and returns on their company, and how they would deal with their competitors. While Kishore’s product was a technology that uses image recognition for auto-tagging of photos, the other finalist Gopal Krishna presented an affordable 3-D printer. “There was overwhelming response from Student entrepreneurs from India. Kishore Natrajan stood out with his concept, he is definitely an inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs and we are here to support such young talent,” said Sudhakar, Director, GSEA South Asia.