Villgro launches ‘Incubating Incubators’ to strengthen India’s start-up ecosystem 

New Delhi: Villgro, India’s pioneering incubator for social enterprises has launched ‘Incubating Incubators Programme’ to strengthen the start-up ecosystem in India. The programme will develop the capacity of incubators through an incubation model focused on one-on-one mentoring, fund-raising demos with donors to build long-term partnerships, and other varied learning opportunities from Villgro and the start-ups it supports. The Ministry of MSME and GIZ India will provide assistance to the first cohort of 22 incubators.

The earlier edition of South and South East Asia’s Incubating Programme was a huge success.  Notable advisors like Chand Das, former Co-founder & CEO ITC Classmate; Rama Kannan, Master Coach, International Coaching Federation and Board Member, Beyond Capital; Srinivas Ramanujam, CEO, Villgro India; Mohammad Azhar, Programme Lead, Villgro India; Arun Venkatesan, CEO, Villgro USA will guide the cohort during their journey.

The programme will commence on April 12 and the incubators will graduate from the programme on June 30 with ready-to-use tools and templates, incubations plans, business models, enhanced strategic direction, sectoral knowledge, prospective networks and connection, and a customised roadmap to kick-start their journey in the start-up ecosystem.

Commenting on Incubating Incubators Program, Srinivas Ramanujam, CEO, Villgro India said, “Over the past year since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the Indian startup ecosystem has created several innovative solutions to ensure consistent operations amid unprecedented challenges and resources constraints. It is a great time to boost India’s Incubators with tools, technology, and knowledge of best practices to enable them to mentor entrepreneurs to build scalable solutions. We are happy to partner with the Ministry of MSME and GIZ India who will also guide the present cohort with knowledge of the domain and help them bolster to the new normal in which we are all operating today.”

On the launch of the Incubating Incubators Program, Mohammad Azhar, Programme Lead, Villgro India said “We are delighted to launch our first cohort in collaboration with the Ministry of MSME and GIZ India. An Incubator provides startups with mentoring, technical assistance, access to market & finance, and enables them to develop a sustainable and scalable business model. Our trainers are very well equipped with Villgro’s Incubation Playbook that contains 4 practical modules with portfolio management tools and templates that provide exposure to the best practices and impart learnings from our experience of working with startups across sectors over two decades.”

Some key activities the cohort will be part of are, Diagnostic and Solution Panel, Incubation Playbook, VITALS (Villgro Information Tracking and Learning System), Portfolio Management, and interactions with Donors, Corporates and Investors.

The Incubators who have been selected for the programme are Atal Incubation Center Banasthali Vidyapith Foundation; Centre of Excellence – Social Incubation & Entrepreneurship, GITAM University; Vruksh Ecosystem; MIT Pune Technology Business Accelerator; IGTR Incubation & Innovation Centre, Aurangabad; JSS-ATE Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park; Lemon Ideas; Business Incubator for Fostering of Innovative Ideas and Entrepreneurial Development (BIFIED-IAHT); Innovation & Incubation Technology Centre, IDEMI Mumbai; PusaKrishi, ICAR-IARI; IIMN Foundation for Entrepreneurship Development (InFED), IIM Nagpur;

Incubator for Social Enterprises and Entrepreneurs for Development (ISEED) at IRMA; CTR Incubation & Entrepreneurship Development Center (CIED), Ludhiana; Marathwada Accelerator for Growth and Incubation Council (MAGIC); INCUBEIN FOUNDATION, RTMNU Business Incubation Center; IIM Calcutta Innovation Park; Atal Incubation Center, CVRCEF; Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering – Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Park (SJCE-STEP); Incuvations Foundation –National Institute of Science & Technology, Bhubaneswar; Central Tool Room and Training Center (CTTC) Bhubaneswar; Indra Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women; Startup Incubation and Innovation Centre, IIT Kanpur