LIVE, laboratory for innovation, venturing and entrepreneurship at IIM Kozhikode, has completed two years of its foundation this month. LIVE is an IIM-K initiative aimed at building a unique start-up ecosystem on campus. It leverages the institute's existing strength of expertise in management, intellectual resources and the global network of alumni, apart from its talent available on campus. Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, supported the centre with the initial grant.
Since its foundation as an independent society on June 6, 2016, IIM-K LIVE has impacted 18 start-ups as part of its flagship business incubation programme. In its recent round of admissions, which were concluded in May 2018, LIVE admitted 11 new start-ups. These start-ups have together created more than 50 jobs directly and over 100, indirectly. Five of the new companies have been approved for seed funds from external agencies and angel investors.
Of the 29 start-ups, about 11 are from IIM-K's own graduates and by an ex-faculty member. “Apart from the community on campus, the centre aims to support bigger groups within Kerala and beyond. While we wish to inspire and support our own students and alumni, LIVE is not an inward-focused incubator. It aims to support start-ups that can benefit from this institute’s resources”, said Kulbhushan Balooni, Director-in-charge at the institute, who also acts as Chairman of Board of Governors, IIM-K LIVE. The board comprises industry leaders such as Hari Menon of BigBasket.com and TC Meenakshisundaram of IDG Ventures India among others.
The initiative has conceptualised a 10-week certificate programme in ‘new venture creation' that aims at preparing aspiring entrepreneurs to start-up. It will be launched soon. Participants of this course may end up with the centre's business incubation programme.