IIMB’s Incubation Centre Plans To Increase Number Of Seats

NSRCEL, the incubation centre for start-ups at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B), plans to increase the number of seats for its incubator programme from the present 82 to 125

The Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), has been facing excess demand for the past several seasons with increasing interest among business graduates for startups coupled with the Central Government’s focus on skill development for entrepreneurship.

NSRCEL chairperson G Sabarinathan pointed out that out of 60-70 applications, six are taken up for screening process.

The Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), has been facing excess demand for the past several seasons with increasing interest among business graduates for startups coupled with the Central Government’s focus on skill development for entrepreneurship.

Under the 12-month-long incubation programme, an early stage startup could get up to 12 seats to build and develop its business. The Centre has drawn up a selection criteria that require the business ideas to be “innovative, implementable and impact-making”, Sabarinathan, who is also a faculty in Finance and Control at IIM-B, said.

Yet another initiative to meet the increasing demand for incubators is a Launchpad program for early stage startups. The programme, with a maximum duration of three months, would have ten seats reserved for eight companies with maximum of two seats per company. The institute proposes to increase the number of seats to 18.

NSRCEL, being an open centre, has so far had provided incubation facilities for several startups, including zoojoo.be, a game based social wellness platform that unites the workforce to form healthier habits. Amagi, a media technology company that claims to be India’s largest TV advertisement network and binbag, a company engaged in e-waste disposal.

The faculty offer courses at the graduate as well as doctoral level and shorter modules on entrepreneurial thinking in a number of executive education programs.

NSRCEL also runs two programs for entrepreneurs. The first one is an 8-month management program for entrepreneurs, especially first generation, and family businesses.

The second is a management program for women entrepreneurs that provides assistance to early-stage enterprises in capacity-building and other aspects.

Mentoring sessions are regularly held at the incubation cell. In 2015, it held close to 380 mentoring sessions. Two sessions are held every month.

Set up in March 2002 as a focal point for entrepreneurial studies at IIM Bangalore, the NSRCEL has been facilitating business growth through academic research by scholars while imparting practical learning for entrepreneurs.

It is envisioned as a world-class centre for excellence in seeding, nurturing and promoting entrepreneurship with emphasis on start-ups and existing organisations with high growth potential.

NSRCEL’s objective is to help entrepreneurs channelize their energy and talent towards transforming their ideas into successful companies. It does so by guiding them in understanding specific opportunities for business growth and help them access the resources they require.

The incubation support is not limited to any specific sectors. However, to a great extent, it has so far been engaged with companies from the Information and Communication Technology, Clean Technology and Embedded Systems and Design sectors.

Located within the academic space at IIM Bangalore campus, NSRCEL offers extensive engagement with industry in order to channelize and refine raw entrepreneurial energies that go on to become successful businesses. The Centre draws upon both the IIMB faculty and industry experts to provide mentoring support.