Entre, the entrepreneurship club of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, is launching a ‘Management Clinic’. It is aimed at helping start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by addressing their needs, planning for growth and ensuring the perpetuity of their business.
These advisory services will be offered at a nominal cost by the students of IIM-A, who will be guided by faculty members acting as ‘advisors’ for the student teams. Theregistration fee is ₹3,000, payable at the start of the engagement.
The programme is structured to facilitate IIM-A students’ engagement with selected firms for a period of up to four weeks and help guide businesses on how to solve their most vexing problems. The businesses will find a collaborative environment where students will help them diagnose and structure the method of addressing challenges they face.
Gourav Beriwal, member of the initiative’s organising team, said, “Management Clinic serves two needs at once — one, it demonstrate to students the real-world applications of their studies, and two, it provides SMEs access to sound management principles and innovative ideas.
“The idea is streamlined with the start-up India initiative. It is also in alignment with our goal of building community outreach programmes at IIM-A.”
The pilot phase of the initiative has been successfully concluded, where two businesses were supported. A soft launch strategy and online marketing campaign were designed for a local SME that was planning to launch a herbal alternative to tea. Talking about the support he received, the SME owner said, “This idea of a Management Clinic is the need of the hour. The recommendation by the team was at par with the IIM-A standards. More businesses should benefit from this initiative.”
The Management Clinic also helped Beany Bunnies, a day-care centre create a marketing campaign. Here’s what the founder had to say: “The management clinic helped my start-up by presenting logical scenarios and suggestions that will definitely take it to the next level and help it grow better. Their advice on how to manage my limited funds for marketing — both online and offline — and what issues to focus on when it comes to branding has been really helpful.”
Prof Amit Karna, Associate Professor of Strategy at IIM-A and one of the advisors for Management Clinic, commented: “This is a student initiative aimed at creating a strong platform for the students of IIM-A and community at large, to be able to apply management practices learnt in the classroom in real life. We hope that interactions through the clinic will benefit the business owners of Ahmedabad with solutions to routine problems and better ways of doing business while .”