New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta's Innovation Park will assist start-ups from the eight northeastern states in breaking into the market. 270 new start-up enterprises will be chosen by the programme to get assistance, including training, mentoring, and startup money.
The North East Council (NEC), a nodal organisation for the social and economic growth of the North Eastern Region, and the Innovation Park at IIM Calcutta joined together to start the North East Entrepreneurship Development Programme (NEEDP) in September 2022.
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura are the eight states it will encompass. The NEEDP has a total budget of Rs 7.5 crore and will identify and support 270 start-ups from the eight states. The NEEDP intends to develop a single programme that will assist the North Eastern States' emerging ecosystems, particularly those that lack sufficient financing and assistance.
The NEEDP has a total budget of Rs 7.5 crore and will identify and support 270 start-ups from the eight states. The NEEDP intends to develop a single programme that will assist the North Eastern States' emerging ecosystems, particularly those that lack sufficient financing and assistance.
The programme, which has garnered "thousands" of entries, is specifically meant to support budding entrepreneurs who are young and in university. University-specific outreach initiatives have been carried out by programme authorities, who have also developed unique selection criteria for new and experienced start-ups.
According to Pranjal Konwar, chief operating officer of IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, "The program was initiated by the NEC with the idea that while the majority of states in the northeast are creating start-ups, there are a few states that are lagging because of funding problems and other ecosystem-related issues."
"Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and Mizoram are the main states. Yet in others, nothing was developing at the national level, even though it could be happening on the ground," according to Konwar.
IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, the program's expertise partner, has been managing start-up missions for Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya since 2016. It also serves as the Mizoram government's assisting partner.
"This year, Assam and Meghalaya did quite well in the national start-up state rating. Meghalaya won category B, which does not include Delhi or Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh came in second. These activities are all driven by IIMCIP, according to Konwar.
Assam emerged as the winner in category A of the ministry of business and industry's Start-Up Ranking of States 2021. Meghalaya took first place in category B for states with less than one crore inhabitants.
"North East Council thought they may use our expertise in our region and try to encourage entrepreneurship development of all of the states in the northeast through a single programme and that's how NEEDP was founded, taking cognizance of IIMCIP's efforts in the region,” said Konwar.
Applications for the NEEDP programme were accepted until October 31. There will be 270 start-ups chosen for cash and additional training. "A few thousand" applications had already been filed when this was written.
The program's administrators needed help to identify the start-ups that had applied. Still, they did note that agriculture, information technology, tourism, education, crafts, and handlooms had historically been the region's most vital industries.
"There will be three stages to the selection process. Once we receive some applications, we will rank them and conduct a state-by-state pitching round. The remaining 270 start-ups would then be chosen in a final round in Guwahati,” according to Konwar.
There will be 270 start-ups, of which 150 will be chosen for incubation and 120 for pre-incubation.
As per Konwar, “Individuals in incubation and pre-incubation have varying levels of maturity, which is the distinction between the two. We aim to take in and assist with launching a product with everyone who has ideas and is prepared with a product to enter the market. These are classified as pre-incubation.”
“Those in incubation will be the ones that have already launched, are seeing early traction, or need to scale up right now,” according to Konwar.
The division was formed, according to those in charge of the programme, to support student entrepreneurs. Since many students nowadays are developing prototypes but may have yet to contact consumers, this will be helpful to them.
The students typically need more proof of concept and are disadvantaged in start-up competitions where income may be required. Students will gain from NEEDP's pre-incubation segment, according to Rajarshi Sarma, project leader. The authorities also host outreach programmes at some of these states' top colleges.
"We have carried out ten outreach programmes thus far. We began with Tezpur University in Assam, followed by one programme in Shillong (Meghalaya), three programmes in Arunachal Pradesh, and a handful in Nagaland.
One would shortly be held in Manipur and Tripura, according to Sarma. After being chosen for the six-month NEEDP programme, the start-ups will get three interventions: money, boot camps, and mentoring.
Every start-up or entrepreneur will have a mentor allocated to them who will conduct regular mentoring sessions. Such mentors include IIM Calcutta faculty members and entrepreneurs with successful start-ups. Then, there will also be three classroom-based boot camps to boost capacity. The startup businesses will obtain grants after fulfilling the tasks given to them by the mentors as the last intervention in financing.
The leading start-ups will get the opportunity to pitch their ideas to potential investors after the programme is over, who the IIMCIP will have gathered.
"We will assist them with market connections during this. We'll also give them advice on how to pitch their goods properly. There will be numerous practice sessions, and ultimately, the best of the bunch will be shown to investors. To prepare them for follow-on funding, we handhold them once more after the incubation,” according to Konwar.
Additionally, of the 270 start-ups, 120 will receive Rs. 3 lakh each for incubation, and the top 20 will receive an additional Rs. 7 lakh. Similarly, 150 start-ups in pre-incubation will earn Rs. 1 lakh each, with an additional Rs. 4 lakh going to the top 25.
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