Indian School of Business (ISB)‘s Atal Catalysts, a mentorship programme, witnessed participation from over 9,000 students. Launched by I-Venture @ ISB, umbrella brand of the business school for fostering entrepreneurship and nurturing start-ups, in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, Atal Catalysts is seeking to scale, improve and potentially take to market digital ventures of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) Tinkerpreneur’s top 100 high-school student teams.

The selected student teams were mentored using tools such as case studies and well-designed masterclasses. “ISB is now committed to developing a robust entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country. Atal Catalysts’s partnership with AIM for mentoring the Tinkerpreneurs is a heartening step towards that goal,” Prof Bhagwan Chowdhry, Faculty Director, ISB said in a release.

Personalised mentorship

More than 65 mentors were part of the programme, each of them an alumnus of ISB. The Atal Catalysts team analysed the areas of improvement for every idea and mapped the right mentor. This ensured that the students got the most appropriate guidance they needed to enhance their product and develop the necessary entrepreneurial/business skills. The mentoring sessions were conducted one-on-one to ensure personalised attention, a release from the institute, said.

Once the products and pitches were refined, the students pitched their ideas before an expert panel where ten new ideas such as — Learner's Mate; PneuCheck; Fitframe; eLAAZ; S-Women — made it to the shortlist. With suitable sponsorships, the selected student teams will work on developing the app or website before taking them to market, the ISB released added.