NSRCEL, the startup and innovation hub at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, has opened up applications to the third cohort of the Women Startup Program.
The Women Startup Program aims to support ambitious and innovative women entrepreneurs by enabling them to transform their idea into a business venture and enhancing their entrepreneurial and managerial skills.
“The economic impact of Covid is going to be as much, if not more, than its impact on our health. We believe entrepreneurship is the only way to absorb this impact and reignite the engine of growth for our nation. Our newly designed Women Startup Program plans to create a large pool of women entrepreneurs across the country through active partnerships with other institutions in each State. This will also be our first effort to run a totally virtual programme that will tap into multi-lingual content to reach women entrepreneurs, both in urban and rural areas,” said Prof. Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Chairperson, NSRCEL at IIM Bangalore.
The programme focuses on the Centre’s vision for a ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Vocal for Local’.
It will make learning accessible and affordable to women entrepreneurs from the tier-2 and tier-3 cities of the country.
Early-stage ideas start-ups (not more than 12 months old) will be shortlisted for the first phase of the programme, which commences with a five-week training through Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to be offered on the Swayam platform.
The second and third phases will have selected entrepreneurs undergo a two-month virtual launchpad programme followed by a six-month incubation programme designed by NSRCEL and its partner institutes. They will then present their product/prototype and pitch to a screening committee.
On successful completion of the course, the women entrepreneurs will have access to legal and compliance support extended to all NSRCEL alumni. They will become part of the NSRCEL ecosystem, by which they can connect with fellow entrepreneurs, industry experts and academicians. They will also get the opportunity to pitch to investors. The performance and progress of the ventures will be monitored and tracked, every quarter, for a year by NSRCEL and its partner institutes.
With the endorsement by the Central Government’s Department of Science & Technology, NSRCEL works with the IIMN Foundation for Entrepreneurship Development (InFED), Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam (IIM Vizag), Indian Institute of Management Jammu (IIM Jammu), Mizoram University Incubation Centre (MZU Incubation Centre), Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIM Indore), IIT Guwahati - Technology Incubation Centre (IITG-TIC), and Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) to deliver this programme.