I'm Divye Kapoor, a 1st year student in MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at BI Norwegian Business School. I thought I'd share my write-up of the Norwegian Investment Forum in October 2011.

My passion for attending business-related events continues in Norway. I kick started this journey by attending Norwegian Investment Forum last Tuesday on 18th October. Events like these does not only provide a platform to meet people you would normally not get access to in normal life but you also get to learn about the new developments and thought provoking technologies. This is very different to what we all learn in theory in class rooms.

Let me just briefly explain what Norwegian Investment Forum is. It is the largest Venture Forum in Norway and is attended by more than 200 participants. It brings together private and angel investors, venture capitalists, investment bankers, emerging growth companies, incubators, successful entrepreneurs, premier service providers and industry leaders. I represent none of those categories and was the only person representing a university in Norway. I also noticed I looked 20-30 years younger than people sitting in the same hall with me. The reason why I mention this is that your contacts could be anywhere and of any age, and if you think they can be of any value to you talk to them. Don’t get uncomfortable if you have friends or contacts that are much older than your age.

The discussion began with how to invest and navigate in a tough market. Trond Unneland, Vice President & Managing executive of Chevron Technology Ventures, U.S. brought some very interesting points on how they invest. They like to co-invest with partners and their investments range from either 5%-10% (sharing risk) or more than 50% (when they are sure absolutely sure about ROI). He also pointed out problems with Corporate Venture Capital (CVC). One of the things he mentioned was that assume you have a Vice-President who likes the idea of investing in other companies thinking that makes strategic sense for the company. Assume that this person leaves the company and is replaced by someone who doesn’t believe in investing in other companies. What happens then? Well, in that case you don’t make investments implying that entrepreneurs and companies seeking capital do not trust CVCs and would not want capital from them.

It was lunch and Jennifer Vessels, CEO of Next Step from California, US who was co-coordinating the program made an announcement. She came across as a very smart woman sharing a few thoughts about how the audience should utilize the lunch break to network with people present in the hall. Well, I was anyways going to meet people but I had a spring in the step after hearing Jennifer. So, the fun part began of meeting these people. The first person I met was an Investment Manager at Schibsted Media Group. We had a fairly long discussing health of the newspaper industry, investment opportunities for Schibsted, my business idea and a lot more. I decided to grab black coffee (something which I normally don’t drink) and found myself talking to Jon from ARGENTUM, a NOK 6.5 billion Asset Managing company funded by Norwegian government. I was curious and so I asked Jon about what they actually do. He said, we are funds of funds and I immediately knew they provide funding to other venture capital firms. Interesting! Isn’t it?

I finished my coffee and was heading back when I just collided with Attorney-at-law, Jens Christian from one of the sponsors of this event, SELMER. I started talking about a concept which I believe not many of you would be familiar with. It’s called Legal Process Outsourcing or LPO. I asked Jon if he has intentions to enter US. His first reaction was a shake of the head. So, I asked him the same question in another way. “I have few contacts back home in India in legal firms who get work from law firms in US as getting the same work in India is much cheaper. They have clients in U.S. Would you like to collaborate with the Indian partner and gain access to the US market? He immediately said yes. I still have to get back to him though.

The break was over and the companies selected by the jury started with their elevator pitches. I could not attend all presentations because they were conducted in parallel sessions. I was smart enough to take a seat inside Oslo Kongressenter, venue for this event and selected which presentations I would like to see. I came across some wonderful elevator pitches and some amazing businesses. It turns out that after these presentations were over I met some more people and struck friendship with Andrey who works in Russian embassy. He was curious about what I do and plan to do in future. I always enjoy meeting curious people because I am one of them.

I also met a bunch of guys who are setting up a bank in UK. They were tired of earning small commissions from banks by using their exceptionally advanced mathematical skills to make products for various banks in Scandinavia. Basically, they wanted a bigger share of the pie and so decided to open their own online bank. There is a big market in UK and other big countries where people live on credit cards. These guys want to target people who need money for 1-7 days. So, you might be sitting in a pub and want to have more beer but you realize you don’t have money. What you can do is text message to a four digit number (provided by the bank) and you would have money in your account so you could have more beer. Yes, that is big business in UK because that’s where big money is in banking. Watch out for Precise Prediction! That’s the name of their company. I also happen to discuss about myself with the CEO of this company briefly and told him I am from India. He was very excited when he heard I am from India. I asked him if he has any plans to come to India and he answered me with a giant smile on his face telling me that they want to serve the Indian market as there are many un-banked people in India. I also discussed with him my business idea which revolves around Financial Services industry. He was gracious enough and told me that he wants to meet me and talk in detail. That’s an awesome feeling when someone who runs a business and knows a lot more people than I have ever met in my entire life tells you to fix a meeting soon. Absolute delight!

Given the kind of curious creature I am, I decided to shoot out few questions. The first one was to Trond Unneland while he was presenting about his venture fund. He was discussing about new technologies in the oil industry. I have something in mind which can possibly remove crude oil from water in case another oil spill happens. So, my question was, “Have you ever considered to invest in a technology which prevents oil to mix with water?” He said yes! I asked another question before the end of the day to the panelists who were discussing few trends in the world. There was a mention about China not leading the world in the twenty first century and my question was based on that. “If China is not going to lead the world who is going to replace China?” There was just one response and I was expecting the panelists to mention about India but they didn’t. Well, I heard Korea and Japan. Honestly, I still struggle to find why anyone would mention these two countries.

I met few investors who work with incubation enters closely. Interestingly, that is going to be my thesis topic. So, meeting Michael Sidler, Partner at Red Alpine, a venture capital firm based in Zurich, Switzerland was a very encouraging experience. He was very open and told me they would like to help me in my thesis. Hey, if you read between the lines I have an indirect offer to fly down to Zurich. Isn’t that awesome?

If I can meet so many people why can’t you? Step out of the class room and create your own opportunities. If anyone has any comments please message me!