K J Somaiya

Management education is often considered a double-edged sword when critically evaluating its impact on nurturing entrepreneurial spirit. It supports young minds with entrepreneurial mindsets to refine their ideas regarding business and help them build networks. On the other hand, it also hinders them from taking the plunge by providing a safe haven and offering good placement opportunities for a rewarding career path.

The current generation is influenced by successful entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Narayan Murthy, and new-age entrepreneurs such as Ritesh Agarwal. Examples like these are truly an inspiration and are frequently brought up in classroom discussions.

A rising trend has been noticed with an increasing number of management aspirants who desire to start their own venture and gain autonomy. A robust entrepreneurship campus ecosystem includes exposure to entrepreneurs' lives through books, guest lectures, workshops, and other interactive sessions. The presence of entrepreneurship cells which conduct idea pitch and business plan competitions and incubation centres broaden entrepreneurial imagination.

How K J Somaiya is boosting today’s entrepreneurs?

K J Somaiya Institute of Management aims to build a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem by engaging young minds in and outside the classroom through discussions, workshops, and training programmes. The management college also provides experiential learning through live projects, working with startups, student committees, associations with the campus incubator – "RiiDL" and building networks.  RiiDL: It stands for "Research, Innovation, Incubation, Design, Laboratories”.

K J Somaiya

RiiDL is an incubation centre that provides a nurturing environment to early-based startups by providing them workspace and mentorship, enabling them to contribute to the community. It also creates focused groups that want to work on projects and technology-based business ideas. Some of the startup milestones achieved by the "RiiDL" incubation centre are as follows:

  • 80+ Total Startups including Indra, Offee, Wohlig, Kustard, Aitoe Labs, Pepstudy, JioVio and more
  • 29+ Investments done
  • 400+ Full-Time Jobs Created

RiiDL provides various services to incubated startups. Some services are limited to the incubation period, whereas some extend until startups get Series-A funding. These services help startups grow and facilitate their need during their early growth stage. RiiDL can charge up to 4-6% equity to provide services to the startups.

All in all, an MBA degree is where students can experiment, learn through their experiences, and shape their ambitions for the future. The dream is to nurture the entrepreneurial minds of the young generation.