NEW DELHI: The Delhi government allocated `40 crore for the ‘Business Blasters’ scheme for student startups in its Budget 2024-25 tabled in the assembly on Monday.
Finance Minister Atishi said that only entrepreneurship can alleviate unemployment. In 2019, the AAP government introduced an Entrepreneurship Mindset curriculum in the schools with the goal to make children confident and capable that they don’t seek employment after their studies but become job creators.
Notably, under the practical component of this curriculum called ‘Business Blasters,’ students in the 11th and 12th grades of the government schools are given seed money of Rs 2,000 so that they can collaborate with their peers to create a business model that can generate profit.
“The program has yielded fantastic results. Our students are not only earning money through their startups in fields such as logistics, online gaming portals, dark chocolate, nutritional supplements, beauty products, etc., but are also providing jobs to many people even before graduating from school,” she said.
She said in the academic year 2023-24, around 2,40,000 students formed 38,000 teams and worked on their business ideas.
To further strengthen this model, the government started Incubation Centers in its universities, where 122 students are receiving support ranging from mentorship by industry leaders to funding for their startups. This is aimed at enabling them to create companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon of the future, providing employment to lakhs of youth.
Sharing a success story of student named Anant Sharma, Atishi said that Anant was an ordinary student at the Kejriwal Government’s IIIT Delhi.
“In 2019, during his graduation days, he started a startup called ‘Tweek Labs’ - which harnessed a new discovery in the field of sports technology. Starting small at the Innovation and Incubation Center at IIITD, his company progressed so much that Anant got a spot on the famous business reality show - Shark Tank,” she said.
Anant presented his pitch in front of the country’s most renowned entrepreneurs and secured funding of `60 lakhs.
Shea dded that ‘Business Blasters Senior’ will be launched in government-funded universities in the academic year 2024-25.