Space, funding, mentoring and moral support — seems like a perfect recipe for success to aspiring entrepreneurs. However, an incubation centre is much more than this. They are touted as the breeding ground of new companies. They accelerate the growth of startups by leveraging on their facilities, funding and networks to enable quick growth. To begin with, how does it differ from an e-cell? E-cell is a student body formed to promote entrepreneurship via activities like workshops, guest lectures, events and contests while an incubation centre gives office space, internet, library and funds at an early stage. To hit the nail on the head, activities at an incubation centre are at a more serious level. There are 50+ such centres in India.
Private vs university incubators
Shattering the myth that only students of a particular college are welcome on board for incubation, BS Sachidananda, manager-operations, Nadathur S Raghavan Center for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) of IIM-B says, “We have an open incubation policy whereby the incubation facility is accessible to any person, not just the student community of IIM-B. We complement the incubation with a very strong mentoring panel, which is accessible to every entrepreneur who applies for support.”
NSRCEL has as its focus areas teaching and training, research, events and ecosystem development and incubation and mentoring. There has been a surge of entrepreneurs in the tech field. “This is because of the cost involved in incubating such an entrepreneur,” observes Harkesh Mittal, advisor and head, National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board. However, NSRCEL has in the past incubated companies in the agri and manufacturing businesses. “The incubation choice is made considering the stage at which the company is in and ascertaining the value NSRCEL could provide to the incubated company. NSRCEL also supports any company with mentoring sessions for the benefit of entrepreneurs. We have received numerous requests for mentoring sessions so far and have accommodated these requests,” says Sachidananda.
Funding
While private incubators in general only show the sources you can look for, it is indeed an advantage for those under a university incubator, courtesy the numerous government schemes. “At NSRCEL, the incubated company could apply for funding after three months of incubation when the company has shown progress in their business. This funding is a seed-round funding supported through various government schemes. The seed funding could be to a maximum of `25 lakh,” says Sachidananda. Echoing his views, Mittal says, “It’s better for entrepreneurs to look out for other sources as well and not just depend on the government incubator.”
Funding is only one aspect of the business. Incubation centres help budding entrepreneurs in other ways too. “The plethora of competitions we conduct creates rich exposure for our students. Even if they were not inclined towards entrepreneurship in the first place, this helps them make steady attempts,” says Sachidananda. Deferred placements is another option the students of IIM-B use to attempt entrepreneurship.
Ideal incubation centre
“The measurement of success of any incubation centre is a subject that is very context dependent — it could be either supply- or demand-oriented. So having a standard metrics to measure the success of an incubation centre would be extremely difficult,” concludes Sachidananda. Says Swapnil Khandelwal, 25, incubated at Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship of IIM-A, “CIIE’s set-up, resources, branding and the team behind it clearly looked apart from any other private incubator,” when quizzed on the alluring factors.
— shilpa.vasudevan@newindianexpress.com
