IIM Udaipur Incubation Centre Invites All Startups to ‘Launch n Zoom’ their Ideas through its Upcoming Cohort

Since its inception in 2011, IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Udaipur has had a firm focus on building a strong entrepreneurial culture and ecosystem through its course structure and extra-curricular initiatives. The institute hopes to inspire and support the new generation of founders and entrepreneurs, by providing them with resources that are otherwise not easily accessible.

The Institute applauds the courage of students and aspiring entrepreneurs who are ready to leave the comforts of stability and a steady employment and leap into the competitive and risky waters of entrepreneurship. IIM Udaipur has taken a lead in a host of areas to support the startup fervor in the country and the most recent addition is the upcoming incubation program—Launch n Zoom, 2018.

Launch n Zoom: Giving Budding Startups The Nitro-boost they Need

IIM Udaipur’s Incubation Center invites all aspiring founders and entrepreneurs, from all over India, to participate in its upcoming Cohort – Launch n Zoom, 2018. The program aims to help build the required skills and capacity for idea-level ventures and startups and for their founding team to hone their entrepreneurial skills to build capacity and scale their startups. Launch n Zoom will address all the areas necessary to build such competency by providing aspiring entrepreneurs with sessions on:

• Product/Service development
• Establishment of venture
• Planning their finances and logistics efficiently
• Building robust teams that will make their startup ready for funding and investments
• Identifying and pitching to the target investments.

The program will have an intensive 52-week Business-Mentoring, Technology Connect, Prototype Development and venture building Continuum for startups which will be selected in the Launch n Zoom Cohort, to help launch their venture at the IIM Udaipur Incubation Centre.

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Who Should Apply?

IIM Udaipur Incubation Center invites startups of all backgrounds and industries, from all over India, to apply to the Cohort.

The event expects to see quite a number of students startups in the areas of AI, ML, Cryptocurrency, Digital Technologies, Agritech, Fintech, and FMCG in 2018.

The center is encouraging institutes pan India to send the startups of their students / faculty /alumni and also aspiring entrepreneurs from the professional community to apply for a chance to be in the Cohort and benefit from its network and resources.

What Can You Expect From Launch n Zoom?

Launch n Zoom will provide aspiring startups and entrepreneurs what they need to help their business/idea take off: quality mentorship from Industry Practitioners and academics with real-world and relevant experience. Also, business ideas and startups that make it to the cohort stand the chance of a lifetime of gaining thorough assistance and business handholding and access to a community of startup founders, prospective investors, various ecosystem partners, and a network which will spell victory for any entrepreneur who is serious about their product/service and is ready to give their venture a cent percent.

Once the startups are ready and show promise of a sustainable and scalable future, either post handholding or even during it, the Incubation Center will organise a series of pitching events for the startups and entrepreneurs to present their proposals and business plans to investors.

All-in-all, the cohort will provide 360-degree support to entrepreneurs who want to make it big in the Indian startup ecosystem and recognize the need of such end-to-end support to make it happen.

At IIM Udaipur the students are encouraged to start off with a strong foundational knowledge of everything they need to know about entrepreneurship. The institute also hosts talks and sessions by industry experts and entrepreneurs have made a mark for themselves in today’s competitive startup ecosystem.

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The Cultural Ideology of Supporting The Startup India Mission At IIM Udaipur

In order to motivate students who aim to face-off uncertainties and build startup-venture, IIM Udaipur has set up IIM Udaipur Incubation Center. Through its philosophy of strong support to budding entrepreneurs among students IIM Udaipur offers

• A Summer Entrepreneurship Program for students to create their ventures while being at the institution. This helps students who want to peddle into entrepreneurship while at the institute. A monthly summer stipend and Prototype Building allowance are extended to the entrepreneur among students, who opt for the program.
• A regular stipend which helps students put their best foot forward and carry on with implementing their prototypes and business ideas, without having to worry about daily subsistence (post passing out)
• A placement holiday, which allows students to opt for placement options at a deferred date, helping them focus on their venture in the meantime. Placement holidays are a great way to ensure students have other career options open thereby reducing their risk in investing all their time and efforts in their startup. Students can opt for the placement services within two years of graduating.

IIM Udaipur alumni and entrepreneur, Angad Singh, Co-founder, tempawala.com, a B2B logistics service provider, has greatly benefitted from the entrepreneurial support he had received from his alma mater:

“Right now, there are 5 Professors, 11 batch-mates and a network of industry connections helping me build the company from scratch. The most amazing thing is that despite being alone in this venture, I am never alone and that’s what IIM Udaipur does for us when we decide to take this path of entrepreneurship.” – Angad Singh, CEO, tempawala.com

It is not only through their entrepreneurship support that IIM Udaipur extends much-needed assistance to budding founders, but also through a well-conceptualised pedagogy that strives to inculcate an entrepreneurial mindset in their students.

IIMU Incubation Center in collaboration with the NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (IIMB) has developed a program to support young women entrepreneurs in India to achieve sustainable and scalable business growth. The program is primarily conducted by IIMU (Udaipur) and IIMB (Bengaluru), with support from Goldman Sachs.

IIMU’s entrepreneurship club – Saksham – instills the spirit and culture of entrepreneurship by hosting various events such as Live Projects, Ideate Startup Workshop, and B-Plan Competitions. It’s ingenious flagship event, Prarambh – The 32 Hour startup Challenge won it the Best Debutant Entrepreneurship Cell (North Zone) which is awarded by the National Entrepreneurship Network.

Rajasthan is already seeing a boom in the number of startups with the state government working hard to provide the state with a strong startup infrastructure. This has indeed boosted the economy of the state too, with increased employment and technological prowess.

India’s Startup Advantage

India has a long way to go to top global charts when it comes to startup, the government, Central and State, are not leaving any stone unturned to turn the startup revolution into a full scale one. Shortly after Prime Minister, Narendra Modi announced the launch of the Startup India campaign in 2016, there was a burst of activities, incubators, and accelerators all around the country.

Although India saw startups mushrooming well before the campaign was initiated, it definitely gave form and direction to the entire initiative by defining certain basics that will be provided to any startup that is headquartered in India, has been founded less than seven years ago, and has a yearly turnover of less than $3.5 Mn (INR 25 crore).

Startup India’s action plan includes extending to startups the benefits of:

• Simplification and Handholding
• Incentives and funding support
• Knowledge partnership

India has also witnessed a growth in the number of startups, thanks to the increase in government and state-sponsored incubators and accelerators all over the country. Currently, ranked at number 37 in the global startup charts, the Indian startup ecosystem has gone through quite a few highs and lows, with 2014-2015 bustling with investor activities to reduced investments in 2017. Through Startup India, the government has also been actively discarding restrictive policies States might pose in startup domain, like Land Permissions, Environmental Clearances, License Raj, and Foreign Investment Proposals.

State governments in Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Kerala have been doing a stellar job at providing startups the boost they require by hosting events, summits, and cohorts through state-universities, PSUs and other institutions.

IIM Udaipur, with its steadfast focus on improving and boosting entrepreneurial and startup culture in the state and country as a whole, has been proactively organising and hosting events to support the Startup India campaign. The Launch n Zoom Cohort is one of its latest initiatives where serious entrepreneurs can hope to receive the support and expertise they require, to give shape to their ideas, scale, and be pitch-ready to investors.

So, if you are an aspiring entrepreneur, this is your chance to give your startup the financial, technical, and knowledge boost it requires and contribute to India’s growing startup ecosystem.

Click Here To Participate

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