Entrepreneurship is booming in India. Cities like Bangalore, Delhi and NCR, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad are already housing flourishing startups. However, the startup phenomenon is not restricted to these Tier I cities. It’s rapidly spreading. Now Tier II cities like Kochi, Indore, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Lucknow etc are emerging with various innovative startups.
Kochi used to be a popular ocean-side tourist destination. However, with the government encouraging the entrepreneurial activity, Kochi has evolved from just a holiday destination to a major business hub of Kerala. Kerala government established Kerala Startup Mission with the mission “To create a startup ecosystem in the state”. Along with Kerala Startup Mission, the business incubator of Kochi, Startup Village is contributing immensely towards building the entrepreneurial culture in Kochi.
The incubator of Kochi, Startup Village commenced in 2012 with an aim to launch 1,000 tech based startups in a decade from its commencement and also look for the next billion dollar startup from India. It mainly focuses on student entrepreneurship and telecom innovation. Startup Mission along with Startup Village is working together making it easier for startups to build teams, find mentorship and get seed funding.
This incubation centre provides its members with a network of investors, efficient workspace and a high speed internet connection. It hosts a lot of workshops, contests and networking events which the members have access to. This gives the members a strong foundation for their startups. They can also apply for the Startup Village Angel Fund. To help budding or would-be entrepreneurs it also organizes a community gathering every month where they can connect with investors, famous businessmen and tech innovators. Various other events are organized which benefits the budding entrepreneurs like an open house session is organized on Saturdays where the members can connect with different teams and interact with like-minded people bearing the same interest as theirs.
Startup Village has already supported 679 startups. It has helped in creating a few thousand jobs. It has incubated companies like iTraveller and Fin Robotics which are now graduated companies and have received various rounds of funding.
Kerala has unique entrepreneurial policies in order to promote student entrepreneurs. Student entrepreneurs can take breaks from their course if they want to work on their startup and later they can start from where they left.
The Young Entrepreneurs Summit is another initiative by the government for the younger generation to create a mindset shift in them and help them venture into the path of entrepreneurship thereby creating employment, wealth and knowledge in the society. In 2014, the organizers of YES conducted in Kochi had expected a turnover of 2,000 however, the turnout was 4,500. This clearly displays the enthusiasm among the students for entrepreneurship.
Kerala government has set apart Rs 500 crore fund for startups. There are provisions for grants for startups. Startup Mission is helping and boosting the startup ecosystem in the state. They are building appropriate trainee programs and are networking among academic, financial and R&D institutions. They are building a platform for speedy commercialization of the tech startups developed by the various institutes. To sum it up they are promoting true entrepreneurial talent and enhancing startups.
Kochi has also signed a MoU with California based Menlo Park, which houses the internet giant Facebook and is at the heart of the Silicon Valley. This will create a bridge between the Silicon Valley and Kochi, the emerging to-be Silicon Coast of India. The MoU is expected to help young entrepreneurs in exchanging ideas. Also, Menlo Park houses huge global tech companies and various venture capitalists who, can mentor and support these young and budding entrepreneurs.
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