Capacity Building

Mizoram Kailawn Accelerator Program

December 26 , 2020

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park joins the focused effort of the Government of Mizoram to take entrepreneurship activity to the next level by helping scale business enterprises in the state.

IIMCIP partnered with the Government of Mizoram and MEDMOC to kickstart the one-year-long Mizoram Kailawn Accelerator programme in the state of Mizoram on December 21, 2020. Pu Lalrikhuma Sailo, the Principal Advisor cum Additional Secretary, Planning & Programme Implementation Department, Govt. of Mizoram, inaugurated the program online, which was followed by the first boot camp attended by 20 entrepreneurs from the state. The Accelerator aims to identify promising start-ups with proven business models in revenue stage and provide them with intense handholding and mentoring through a structured programme to achieve sustainability and scale operations within and outside the state.

The Mizoram Kailawn Accelerator looks at structured intervention that ranges from capacity building to mentoring and from market linkage to funding support. This coupled with intense mentoring support and handholding will help startups align with their growth aspirations. Additionally, entrepreneurs in the North East also need to build capacities and widen their knowledge base especially in business processes, customer identification and acquisition. This fast track accelerator with multiple cohorts is in line with the Mizoram Government’s Startup Policy. In addition to mentorship and investment opportunities, the Accelerator aims to facilitate access to logistical and technical resources as well as shared office space. in collaboration with other incubation centres. The selection of businesses/start-ups for acceleration was competition based.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, with its large network of mentors, investors, market and startup connects, will facilitate customized need-based engagements for these entrepreneurs. The accelerator will consist of two cohorts – Growth Certification Cohort and Growth Mentoring Cohort. For 20 of those start-ups supported by various Govt. programmes/schemes, a curriculum-based structured certification programme has been designed on various aspects of attaining sustainability and scaling up and presented in a blended virtual and physical 6-month programme. Out of these 20 startups from the Growth Certification Cohort, IIMCIP will select 10-12 of the most promising start-ups and offer them dedicated mentoring, handholding and acceleration support over the next 6 months, to enable faster scale-up.

With the growing interest in entrepreneurship, the active support provided by an equally growing entrepreneurial ecosystem and the able backing of Mizoram State Entrepreneurship Development and Monitoring Committee (MEDMOC), this year-long accelerator aims to take entrepreneurship up the next step on the “Kailawn” (ladder in Mizo).

BUSINESS PLAN DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP- ASSAM

July 29 , 2019

A 2-day workshop on Business Plan Development was conducted by IIMCIP at Assam Startup-The Nest on 12 and 13 July’19. A part of the capacity building initiatives, the workshop was especially designed for the startups incubated at The Nest and was addressed by experts like Dr. Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO, IIMCIP; Chandradeep Mitra, Mentor, IIMCIP; Vikram Duggal, Mentor, IIMCIP; Devashis Gupta, Mentor, IIMCIP; Suman Mukhopadhyay, Mentor, IIMCIP; and Gaurav Kapoor, Mentor, IIMCIP.

Thinking Social Seminar

May 14 , 2019

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park organised a one-day “Thinking Social” seminar at Goa in association with Goa State Innovation Council on 25th January, 2019. The primary objective of this exercise was to build awareness, interest and desire to engage with the Social Enterprise Ecosystem amongst the aspiring entrepreneurs and start ups who were about to embark on their entrepreneurship journey soon. This seminar series introduced the budding entrepreneurs to the concept of social entrepreneurship in the rapidly evolving global economy.

NIDHI-EIR Program Launched

May 7 , 2019

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park launched the NIDHI Entrepreneur-In-Residence program on 2nd May 2019 by inducting the 1st batch of the fellows. The NIDHI-EIR Program would provide subsistence grant to an aspiring or budding entrepreneur of considerable potential for pursuing a promising technology business idea.

The ‘Learn the Art and Science of Pitching’ Workshop

April 8 , 2019

The ‘Learn the Art and Science of Pitching’ Workshop was organised by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park at the IIM Calcutta campus on 2nd and 3rd April 2019. All the 43 incubatees of IIM Calcutta Innovation Park attended the two-day workshop where they were mentored by Mr Srikant Sastri, Board Chairman of IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. Sessions were conducted on topics such as Funding landscape & how one should think about funding; Estimating one’s own funding needs and the Art of Story-telling

Training of Trainers on Entrepreneurship Development

February 18 , 2019

The ‘Training of Trainers on Entrepreneurship’ workshop for 15 delegates from Mizoram took place at the IIMC Campus from 14th – 17th February 2019. The participants were sensitized about structuring a business model canvas. The topics covered during the session were:
1. Reasons to carry out innovation & taking up entrepreneurship
2. Usage of Ideation Tools & Techniques
3.Process undergone during Design Thinking
4.Structuring a Customer Value Proposition Model
5. Genesis and structure of a Business Plan and
6. Process of Drafting a Business model canvas.

An elaborate discussion on ideation tools and techniques used while structuring customers Value Proposition Model, marketing and branding requirement for any product was held. The trainers also interacted with various start-ups of IIMCIP.

Shilpa Shibir 2018

December 13 , 2018

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) in association with the Directorate of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of West Bengal conducted 3-day residential programmes for the officers of the District Industries Centre and the Directorate of MSME at IIM Calcutta. The training programmes were held in 3 batches.

EDCN Workshop

July 4 , 2018

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in association with the Department of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises & Textiles (MSME&T), Government of West Bengal organised the first Entrepreneurship Development Centre Network (EDCN) program in West Bengal at the IIM Calcutta Campus from 5th to 7th July 2018. The program aimed to ignite the Young Minds by helping them to ideate, have them nurtured and thereby create an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem right at the grass roots.

North East Accelerator Program (NEAP)

April 19 , 2018

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park (IIMCIP) in association with Department of Science and Technology, Government of India has launched North East Accelerator Program (NEAP) to create a supportive eco-system for the entrepreneurs in North-east with STPI and Ennovent as partners of the initiative. Out of over 150 applications from start-ups across North-east, 12 most scalable ideas were shortlisted and subsequently considered for acceleration by IIMCIP. A total of 3 bootcamps were held in Guwahati, Assam. The first one was held from April 3 to 5 at the National Institute of Rural Development while the second was held from June 8 to 9 at the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship. The third bootcamp was held from August 2 to 3 at the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj. Start-ups from the following domain are part of NEAP: Food and Agriculture, Logistics, Education, Fashion and Tourism. The program concluded with Demo Day where NEAP start-ups pitched to investors from banks and FIs, investor organisations, HNIs located at Assam, Kolkata and Bangalore.

Marketing & Communication

March 23 , 2018

The capacity building program was undertaken by Mr. Prakash Mundhra, (Marketing Director Prmotex Industries). The workshop attended by 10 startups.

Mr. Mundhra spoke about the element of a marketing system that includes the development and delivery of company or product messages to targeted customers. Paid advertising along with a number of other unpaid promotional tools are used to accomplish marketing communication objectives.

There are different types of marketing strategies available. Picking up a marketing strategy includes analyzing the needs of business, target audience and specifications of products.
The two main types of marketing strategy are:

1. Business to business (B2B) marketing
2. Business to consumer (B2C) marketing.
According to him “Marketing begins with a creator and ends with a consumer. It’s the process by which consumers learn about and obtain products and services. Marketing is more than just advertising, though it does include that aspect of the process. It also includes the media through which a product or services offered and the research that goes into the final decisions of how to package and sell it.”

Some do’s and dont’s in Email-Marketing :

1. Bulk email is not very effecting marketing strategy

2. While drafting an email subject line should be very important

3. Email should not be too long

4. Keeping track of the bounced mail

Lastly he mentioned about an impotent tool of marketing which is digital marketing :The Internet and all its permutations is the latest frontier for marketers. An online presence is almost a requirement in the 21st century as part of any marketing efforts. Marketing can be done in a huge array of formats, from websites to social media and mobile applications, and can allow for customization, content-based ads, and interaction from the audience.

The workshop ended with an interactive Q & A session, where questions were posed by not only the participants but faculty as well.

Consumer Insights & Branding ( 21st Feb,2018)

February 28 , 2018

The workshop was undertaken by Mr. Arindam Som, Consumer & Market Insights (CMI) Lead at GSK CH; ex-CMI & Marketing Director at Unilever .The workshop was attended by 10 startup.
Mr. Som spoke about “India needs to nurture the dreams of start-ups as they become the future engine of our economic growth”. He mentioned that the Start-ups have great innovation ideas, many of them are positioned to solve some genuine problems of ours or enabling people to aspire big.However there are few basic questions which we need to solve for to make a profitable business out of it. These are:

(i) ESTIMATE THE UNVOICED or PERCEIVED NEED GAPS

Is there a genuine or perceived need gap in people’s livestoday, around which we our idea exists? Would people really spend more money than usual, to buy this new product / service from you? How do we understand or observe for people’s genuine needs which many a time, may remain unvoiced?

(ii) THE NEED FOR A BRAND

In many instances, people would spend a bit extra to buy a product (over any other) because it comes with certain credentials. Is it just the highest quality? Or are they looking for an enhancement of their image, what they would like others to think about her / him while consuming this product / service?

(iii) APT COMMUNICATION IN THE RIGHT CHANNELS

How do you make sure that the news of your product / servicehas reached the right people in the right way, hopefully at the minimum of the expenses? You may not be able to advertise in TV but you still need to make the news viral. Are you doing things required as per the evolution of the product / service?

(iv) VALUE FOR MONEY, ITS NOT ABOUT THE PRICE

Indians need to feel smart while buying your stuff. We would like to extract the maximum value for whatever we spend our money in. Is your product / service up for this challenge? Have you packed ‘more things for less cost’? Do people see a value of your idea beyond its usage life cycle?

These are some of the things for which I had the opportunity to talk to with 10 start-ups from Bengal at the IIM-C campus, in early February 2018. What was intended as a lecture, soon became a session when it was about empathizing with the realities of what our entrepreneurs are facing and co-creating some potential ‘solutions & tactics & strategy’ which we can realistically implement. It was a session when I had to quickly go back to specific examples from my experiences in Unilever or when I had my own consulting or now in Glaxo SmithKline, and distill the real learning from it and devising a course of action.

(v) RUTHLESS CONSUMER CENTRICITY

In a market when a maximum 5%-10% innovations survive with decent margins, I really think ‘consumer centricity’ is the answer which can fool-proof our idea against all odds (even while talking to potential investors and incubators). Spending time with consumers (even potential) and shadowing them and having genuine conversations with them is going to provide the much-needed solutions for need gaps, branding, communication approaches and how to optimize cost and price. If we do this for atleast 3-4 hours in a week with discipline and without distractions for all members of your organization, its bound to provide practical solutions for not only your business but also your self.

Lastly he mentioned that , our entrepreneurs are already superb with their thoughts, are willing to sweat it out and are focused on making a business. At the same time, the market is ruthless in weeding out the ‘weak’. Therefore, we need to think practical and always think ‘how to make money’. It really helps us in prioritization.

The workshop ended with an interactive Q & A session, where questions were posed by not only the participants but faculty as well.

Workshop on Entrepreneurship Development

December 12 , 2017

The outreach program took place at the IIMC Campus from 6th December – 9th December. There were 12 delegates attending the workshop. The session was presided over by CEO IIMCIP Mr. Subhrangshu Sanyal followed by Prof. C.D Mitra, Mr. Suman Mukhopadhay (Banganatok.com) and Mr. Vikram Duggal who spoke about structuring a business model canvas. The event was graced by the presence of participants from Mizoram and Government officials of the State of Mizoram topics covered during the session were:
1. Reasons to carry out innovation & taking up entrepreneurship
2. Usage of Ideation Tools & Techniques
3.Process undergone during Design Thinking
4.Structuring a Customer Value Proposition Model
5. Genesis and structure of a Business Plan and
6. Process of Drafting a Business model canvas.

Later Mr. Subhrangshu Sanyal- CEO IIMCIP delivered an elaborate speech providing an overview about Ideations tools and Techniques used while structuring customers Value Proposition Model. Mr. C.D Mitra explained the marketing and branding requirement for any product. IIMCIP Incubatee MS. Priyandarshini Founder of (5C Network), Ms. Ekta Jaju Founder of (Onganic), Mr. Biswajit Founder of ( Edurade) joined the session . While interacting with the start ups Mr. Suman Mukhopadhay explained why the start-ups need mentoring on day to day basis. During his speech Mr. Suman Mukhopadhay affirmed that mentor becomes a priceless resource for any startup, stating that if an entrepreneur can benefit from mentoring, his/her chances of success (and the scale of success) are very likely to be higher than otherwise.

The audience were highly engaged in the program and actively participated in the same. The program was a grand success and acquired positive responses from fervent individuals from various sectors.

Workshop on managing Legal issuies for the Start-Ups (28th Nov,2017)

November 29 , 2017

Trustlaw is the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono service, which connects NGOs and social enterprises with free legal advice and research from the best law firms and in-house legal teams around the world. They work with over 4,000 members in over 175 countries, including over 3,000 NGOs and social enterprises and over 120,000 lawyers from top law firms and in-house legal teams. Their lawyers provide advice on the range of transactional matters that might arise for an organization, including intellectual property, structuring, HR issues, drafting or reviewing partnership agreements, contracts, templates, cross border legal research etc. To get an idea of some of their work, we encourage you to look at the Impact Award video, Innovation Award video and the Collaboration Award videos from the 2017 TrustLaw Awards.
The workshop was undertaken by Mr Simit Bhagat, Program Officer, Asia at Thomson Reuters Foundation .Attended by 8 incubates present there for the workshop being Medi360, R C Hobbytech, Growvill Education, NexConnect Ventures, BigCells Technologies, Bongiyo Gramin Krishi Udyog, Onganic Foods and Sanjevani Khamar.
Mr Bhagat spoke about how they help the organisations to connect with different legal matters if any. The participants were given an opportunity to speak about their existing business model and share the legal challenges they are facing currently. Mr, Bhagat provided practical tools and techniques to help participants solve legal matters, shared ideas validated some ideas shared by the incubates and provided support all the while to manage their product development process.
The workshop ended with an interactive Q & A session, where questions were posed by not only the participants but faculty as well.

Workshop on Managing Innovation in Small Businesses (31st May-3rd June’2017)

April 18 , 2017

The 4-day workshop on Managing Innovation in Small Businesses, started on the 31st of May’ 2017 with 15 participants from different parts of the country.
The programme delved into not only theoretical concepts but also practical tools and techniques to help participants generate innovative product/service ideas, validate them and manage their product development process. It included Experiential Learning Methodology (ELM) using a blend of classroom lectures, presentations, case studies, group discussions and hands-on exercises.

The participants were at the beginning given an opportunity to speak about their existing business model and share the challenges they are facing. Through the span of next three days participants were exposed to the different facets of innovation & entrepreneurship-Innovation Basics, Customer value propositions, Ideation Technique, Design Thinking, Marketing and Branding, Business Model Canvas, Financing Essentials and Presentation Skills.

On the last day the teams presented their business models based on their learning, after being given hands-on experience on how to bring innovation in their existing ventures.

The workshop helped the participants to look at their businesses from a whole new perspective and helped them to think differently by giving pivotal importance to the customer’s pain points. The workshop particularly assisted Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) not only to find the ‘right idea’ to grow their business but also to improve their overall innovativeness.

Workshop on Managing Innovation in Small Businesses 2017

March 20 , 2017

The 4-day workshop on Managing Innovation in Small Businesses, started on the 16th of March’2017 with 22 participants from different parts of the country.
The programme delved into not only theoretical concepts but also practical tools and techniques to help participants generate innovative product/service ideas, validate them and manage their product development process. It included Experiential Learning Methodology (ELM) using a blend of classroom lectures, presentations, case studies, group discussions and hands-on exercises.
The participants, a mix of small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs, were given exposure to the different facets of innovation & entrepreneurship-Innovation Basics, Customer value propositions, Ideation Technique, Design Thinking, Marketing and Branding, Business Model Canvas, Financing Essentials and Presentation Skills.
The workshop helped the participants acquire necessary skills to successfully manage innovation in their business. It particularly assisted Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) not only to find the ‘right idea’ to grow their business but also to improve their overall innovativeness.

Shilpa Shibir 2016

February 28 , 2016

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park is organizing a Capacity Enhancement Workshop (Shilpa Shibir) from 28 Feb – 1 March 2016 for the Industrial Development Officers of MSMET department, West Bengal Government to support District-Level Entrepreneurship Development.

The Capacity enhancement of WB DIC officials in 2015-16 will focus on making participants more familiar and adept at using the key process, tools, systems and policies that the Department of MSME&T has been implementing in recent times to promote development of a better eco-system for MSME business in the state.

Shilpa Shibir

May 11 , 2015

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park is organized a Capacity Enhancement Programme (Shilpa Shibir 2015) for the District Industries Centre (DIC) Officers of the West Bengal MSME Department and the Industrial Development Officers to support District-Level Entrepreneurship Development.

The workshop was conducted in 4 batches from 11 May 2015 to 09 June 2015 covering 260 officials from 19 districts of West Bengal.

This programme had a focus on interactions, discussions & ideation sessions, group exercises, role play, shared learning and practical approach rather than a classroom style lecture. It focused on making participants more familiar and adept at using the key processes, systems, tools and techniques that will enable their transition from regulators to supportive facilitators of entrepreneurship in the districts of West Bengal.

It included workshops on technical aspects like – how to create a good business plan and how to evaluate bank loan applications. There was an interactive session with local entrepreneurs from different domains, who spoke to the officers regarding their entrepreneurship journey and the support which they expect from the government.

A session on the importance of effective communication was conducted which stressed on the need to develop the right attitude.

The workshop included an informal session with the Principal Secretary, Department of Micro and Small Scale Enterprises & Textiles, Government of West Bengal, where the Principal Secretary shared the new initiatives taken up by the MSME department. He also appreciated the efforts put in by IIMCIP in supporting these new initiatives and promoting entrepreneurship in the state.