May 2, 2024

The Business Day

Latest news on business, economy, startups

NSRCEL, the startup and innovation hub at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, invites applications to the third cohort of the Women Start-up Program.

NSRCEL, the startup and innovation hub at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, invites applications to the third cohort of the Women Start-up Program.

To apply, go to: https://www.nsrcel.org/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 program that would 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 program focuses on the vision of Government of India on ‘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 startups (not more than 12 monthsold) will be shortlisted for the first phase of the program. The program commences with a five-week training through Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to be offered on the Swayam platform.

The second and third phases of the program will have the selected entrepreneurs undergo a two-month virtual launchpad program followed by a six-month incubation program 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 program, 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.