Wadhwani Foundation’s flagship Initiative, National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) has initiated a concerted effort to transform Indore and Bhopal regions into a model entrepreneurship ecosystem.
The initiative is aimed at creating impact opportunities in emerging cities with entrepreneurship development as a key tool for sustainable job creation.
El proyecto piloto se está llevando a cabo en Indore y Bhopal. Mientras que Indore es la mini-Mumbai o capital comercial de Madhya Pradesh, con un crecimiento constante del potencial empresarial en los últimos años, Bhopal también está experimentando una creciente lista de emprendedores. La mayoría de las más de 500 empresas emergentes de Madhya Pradesh operan desde Indore y Bhopal, aprovechando la ola tecnológica. Muchas de ellas se centran en las TI y el comercio electrónico.
This initiative is targeting on boarding of 100+ mentors, 50+ growth stage startups and 100+ early stage startups in the next 6 months’ time-frame and providing help and assistance to them. NEN is looking at on-boarding another 25-50 angel investors through the angel investor workshop.
The Foundation and NEN seek to enhance the entrepreneurial capacity in Indore and Bhopal, with intent to have a multiplier effect on job creation and the growth of the city’s economy.
A key entrepreneurial support element will be India’s first-ever Startup Help-desk consisting of free access and service to resources that are just an email away. Any startup can drop an email to NEN at startuphelpdesk@wfglobal.org. NEN’s in-house help-desk consultants will answer queries, provide links to tools, templates or connect the startup with service providers based on their requirements. The help-desk welcomes feedback on the services provided and their usefulness.
“Optimum utilization of the local demographic dividend is critical for entrepreneurship development. Indore is an educational hub with skilled professionals and along with Bhopal is in the middle of the country providing a direct and seamless connectivity by all means of transport. Such available support infrastructure with immense growth potential will now be leveraged by a network of entrepreneurs, mentors and investors towards providing a fillip to the entrepreneurship fervor in the two cities,” said MD India and Asia Wadhwani Foundation, Suman Sasmal.
NEN’s activities primarily comprise of providing mentoring, learning and investor connects. The NEN experts are spending significant time in Indore meeting entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, various associations, educational institutions, media houses and other stakeholders to understand the nuances and requirements of the city’s ecosystem.
NEN envisions playing a ‘catalyst’ role in spurring the entrepreneurial activities through networks and partnerships and bringing the required resources and knowledge to the entrepreneurs.
Ramakrishna Kalluri, Vice President – NEN Ecosystem, Wadhwani Foundation is excited at the prospect of Indore and Bhopal as thriving entrepreneurial hubs. “It gives me great pleasure that the Wadhwani Foundation’s flagship initiative, National Entrepreneurship Network, is now expanding its network and capacity building model to Indore and Bhopal. We see tremendous energy, enthusiasm and innovation in the younger population in this region. We are confident that by enhancing the networking and learning opportunities between startups, mentors, investors, angels, ecosystem partners and academia, we will greatly enhance the entrepreneurial growth opportunities in this region,” he added.
Awareness on entrepreneurship among students and youngsters in Tier II cities like Indore and Bhopal has gone up significantly in the last few years. Lot of youngsters are taking entrepreneurship as their preferred career choice and starting new ventures. However, important stakeholders who act as support systems to these aspiring entrepreneurs are still evolving and far from maturity.
There is a need to develop and nurture mentors, angel investors, faculty, corporate, media so that they play much more active and constructive role in contributing to the ecosystem.
Un elemento clave del ecosistema de las startups en cualquier lugar son los mentores de alta calidad, que son un recurso escaso. NEN está haciendo un esfuerzo especial para incorporar mentores de la ciudad que se sumen a su base global de más de 400 mentores. Los esfuerzos de participación de emprendedores y mentores están orientados a ayudar a los emprendedores a obtener la mejor ayuda posible dentro del ecosistema mediante la creación de redes en línea y fuera de línea sostenibles y escalables.
Short to medium impact of this NEN initiative will be in the form of increased startup successes, accepting entrepreneurship as a viable career option and better networking and coordination among various stakeholders for efficient value delivery to entrepreneurs in terms of capital, know-how and innovation.
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