Serial Entrepreneur Neil Bhaskar, alumnus IIMC, Founder & Chairman of BoDE Foundation along with Priscilla Alvarado, Entrepreneur in Residence & Operations Manager of BoDE Foundation Team (USA) visited IIMCIP and interacted with our Incubatees. They were delighted to see how the startups solved problems at various junctures of a startup journey and impressed by the social impact made. Moving forward BoDE Foundation showed deep interest in working together with IIMCIP and the incubatees.

An HNI Meet, Angel Miniversity Program, was organized at The Nest last evening. Ms. Nandini Mansinghka, CEO & MD, Mumbai Angels Network, addressed a cream gathering of High Net Worth Individuals (HNI) of Assam and discussed the varied aspects of angel investment.
Mrs. Manjula Saikia Bhuyan, IAS, Additional Secretary, Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Assam, and Managing Director, AIIDC, also graced the occasion. She urged the HNIs to come forward to support the startups and take steps towards forming the Assam Angel Network. She assured them of complete support from the Government of Assam.

Go-To-Market Partnership Workshop: A 2-day workshop on GoTo Market Strategy was conducted by IIMCIP at IIM Calcutta campus on 16th and 17th October’19. A part of the capacity building initiatives, the workshop was specially designed for the startups incubated under IIMCIP and was addressed by Mr. Shaikh Mobin Tariq, Manager, Villgro-Acceleration Program. The session was attended by 16 startups who found the session very useful for their upcoming market analysis. A special one to one session with the startups was the main highlight of this 2-day event.

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The workshop was taken by Mr Simit Bhagat, who is the Program officer Asia.

There were 8 incubates present there for the workshop which were Medi360, R C Hobbytech, Growvill Education, NexConnect Ventures, BigCells Technologies, Bongiyo Gramin Krishi Udyog, Onganic Foods and Sanjevani Khamar.

Mr Bhagat spoke about how the help the organisations to connect with different legal matters if any.

There was also a QnA session between Mr Bhagat and the incubates and that helped the incubates to clarify their doubts.

Mizoram Kailawn 2019 saw 4 entrepreneurs from Mizoram sign up MoU’s with entrepreneurs from other parts of the country to work together. This will pave the way forward for collaborations and synergies and growth of business in Mizoram.

The third year of Mizoram Kailawn was launched on 17 June 2019 by honourable Chief Secretary Pu Lalnunmawia Chuaungo. Thereafter, Outreach and Awareness Programmes were conducted in each district capital by the MzCG team and District Master Trainers chosen under the Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (EDS). Awareness programmes focused on entrepreneurship awareness as well as a call for invitation to apply for the business plan competition. District Outreach and Awareness Programs were coordinated with the support of Offices of the Deputy Commissioner. A total of nine Outreach and Awareness Programs were conducted for Mizoram Kailawn 2019, with approximately 150-200 attendees for each program. Mizoram Kailawn this year saw great enthusiasm with a total of 456 participants registering, an increase from the 330 applicants in 2018, and 287 in 2017. Evaluators from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park and other stakeholders from the entrepreneurial ecosystem shortlisted 40 Finalists to take part in the Boot Camp/Training programme hosted at the Tourist Lodge in Chaltlang, Aizawl. The four day residential Boot Camp was packed with rigorous sessions by IIMCIP Mentors who covered sessions on business presentation pitches, financial projections, idea valuation and other aspects required of a viable business.Given that evaluators conduct a blind evaluation of the applications, it is truly remarkable that there was representation from all districts among the Top 40 Finalists. The fourday residential Boot Camp was packed with rigorous sessions by IIMCIP Mentors who covered sessions on business presentation pitches, financial projections, idea valuation and other aspects required of a viable business. Women founders/entrepreneurs represented 32.5% (13 women) of the Finalists selected to participate in the Boot Camp/Training.

True to the inclusive nature of Mizoram Kailawn, the Top 40 Finalist business plans covered a range of sectors, whether at idea stage or start-up phase. Business plans spanned all sectors including Agriculture and Allied, Manufacturing, Service Industry, Food and Beverage, Handicrafts, Food Processing, and Information Technology amongst others. The finalists selected spanned in age as well, where the youngest was 20 years old and the most senior finalist was 65 years old. The Top 20 Finalists were then shortlisted at the close of the Boot Camp, and delivered their final presentations on 16 September 2019.

Mizoram Kailawn 2019 concluded with the Entrepreneurship Summit on 17 September 2019 at Vanapa Hall, Aizawl. The Summit included a Start Up Conclave, highlighting start-ups from Mizoram as and those incubated at IIMCIP, a Master Class by Srikant Sastri, talks and panel discussions on entrepreneurship development in Mizoram, and announcement of MoUs between start-ups in Mizoram and those incubated by IIMCIP. The grand finale of the Summit was the announcement and felicitation of the Mizoram Kailawn 2019 Business Plan Contest Winners.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park organized “Thinking Social” seminar in partnership at Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune on 11 th September, 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. The seminar was formally inaugurated by Dr. Apoorva Palkar, Director- Innovation, Incubation and Linkage, SP Pune University, Pune. This was followed by keynote address by Dr. N.S. Umarani, Pro Vice Chancellor, SP Pune University.The other eminent speakers comprised Ms. Geeta Tolia, Chartered Accountant and a Sloan Fellow from London School of Business armed with over 30 years of Indian and international experience in the areas of Financial Management, Business Turnarounds and Indian and International Taxation; Mr. Swapnil Chaturvedi, popularly known as Poop Guy. He was the co founder and Chief Toilet Cleaner at Samagra Empowerment Foundation; Mr. Suman,Mukhopadhyay, Mentor-IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. There was a panel discussion on social entrepreneurship moderated by Mr. Suman Mukhopadhyay and the panellists were Mr. Amit Godse, Founder – Bee Basket, Mr. Harshad Bhagwat, Founder – Wordsmaya Edutech, Mr. Dhananjay Abhang, Founder – Cleanergy Tech Solutions. The event was attended by over 100 enthusiastic participants comprising entrepreneurs, aspiring start ups and students and members of faculty from SP Pune University.

The third year of Mizoram Kailawn was launched on 17 June 2019. The Boot Camp was held at the Chaltlang Tourist Lodge, Aizawl from 4-7th September. In this 4-day Boot Camp, experts from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park mentored finalists, and guided them as they refined their business plans.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park organized “Thinking Social” seminar in partnership with Veterans India, Bihar at NIT, Patna on 7 th September, 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 are about to embark on their entrepreneurship journey. The seminar was formally inaugurated by Mr. Sanjeev Srivastwa, Patron, Veterans India, Bihar. This was followed by address by Mr. Amitabh Lall, CGM- NABARD, Patna.Ex Commando Rakesh Ranjan also spoke on the ocassion. Dr. Sanjeev Verma, Deputy Director, MSME, Government of India mentioned in his address that MSME has strong focus in social entrepreneurship and hence share much synergy with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park in ushering social entrepreneurship revolution in the state.In the entrepreneurship session, the following enterprising entrepreneurs shared their experience: Prantik Sinha, Founder – Agastya Buoyant; Sunandan Mukherjee, Founder – Brickcells; Kalyan Kolay, Founder – Aegipan Animal Biocare;Sidharth Vijay, Founder – Wejoy Phonefix; ,Rahul Kumar, Founder – Ecoventure. The event was attended by over 50 enthusiastic participants comprising entrepreneurs, aspiring start ups and students and members of faculty from Dayanand Sagar University.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park organized “Thinking Social” seminar in partnership with Derbi Foundation, a business incubator under the aegis of Dayanand Sagar University at Bengaluru on 23rd August, 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.The seminar was formally inaugurated by Dr. Lakshmi Jagannathan, COO- Derbi Foundation.This was followed by address by Chief Guest, Mr. M.N. Vidyashankar, IAS (Retd.), Chairman- Derbi Advisory Board and former Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka. In the entrepreneurship session, the following enterprising entrepreneurs shared their experience with the participants present: Mr. Prateek Kaul, Founder –Giftabled, Mr. Kalyan Siva- the founder of 5C Network,Mr. Arpit Paliwal the Founder of Happy Relliable Surgeries,Mr. Madhusudan, Founder – Ambee. The event was attended by over 80 enthusiastic participants.

The Government of Meghalaya is very keen on creating a growing number of sustainable business enterprises to foster socio-economic development and employment generation in the state. The aim is to develop an “Entrepreneurial Ecosystem” in the State. Therefore, the Chief Minister’s E Champion Challenge was launched on 14th August 2019 by Mr Conrad K Sangma. It is being implemented through the Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship (MIE) in the state. The initiative is being supported by IIM Calcutta innovation Park (IIMCIP) and will support the Government of Meghalaya and MIE in planning, implementing and monitoring the Chief Minister’s E Champion Challenge to deliver its desired results.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park organized “Thinking Social” seminar in partnership with School of Social Entrepreneurs and Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH), Atal Incubation Centre on 10 th August, 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.The speakers comprised Dr. Abha Rishi CEO, BIMTECH, Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) and Chairperson, Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development;Mr. Suman Mukhopadhyay, Mentor- IIM Calcutta Innovation Park;Mr. Parul Soni, Global Managing Partner, Think Through Consulting;Ms. Umang Sridhar is the founder of KhaDigi;Mr. Abhinav Girdhar is Co-founder & CEO of Bodhi Health Education;Mr. Aditya Bose is the founder of Pro Bano;Mr. Ashish Agarwal is the founder of Talento Consulting; Dr. Kamal Singh, CEO and the Executive Director of Global Compact Network India (GCNI); Mr. Shalabh Mittal, CEO- School of Social Entrepreneurs. The event witnessed around 50 participants.

The TATA Social Enterprise Challenge Thinking Social Seminar was organised on 2nd August, 2019 for eastern part of the country at Indian Chamber of Commerce, Kolkata. The primary objective of this event was to build awareness on social entrepreneurship,generating interest and inspiring the youth to come up with innovative solutions to combat social challenges.Speakers such as Mr. Anoop Kumar Agrawal, IAS, Principal Secretary, SHG & SE Department, Govt. of West Bengal;Prof. Prashant Mishra, Dean- New Initiatives & External Relations, IIM Calcutta; Dr. Mahul Brahma, Head – CSR & Corporate Communications, Mjunction Services Limited;Mr. Kalyan Kolay, Founder – Aegipan Animal Biocare and Mr. Adarsh Srivastava,Founder – Green Agrovolution along with Mr. Suman Mukhopadhyay, mentor at IIMCIP spoke to nearly 40 participants.

Tata Group in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM Calcutta), announced the 8th edition of Tata Social Enterprise Challenge 2019 to find India’s most promising early-stage social innovators. Entrepreneurs can submit their business plans online, by logging onto www.tatasechallenge.org. The last day to submit the Impact Proposal (business plan) online is 15th September, 2019.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park conducted the NIDHI Entrepreneur-In-Residence program on 1st August 2019 by inducting the 2nd batch of the 7 fellows. One-on-one sessions were conducted by 4 mentors. The NIDHI-EIR Program would provide subsistence grant to an aspiring or budding entrepreneur of considerable potential for pursuing a promising technology business idea

Mr. Narendra Godse, Founder-Anoobhuti Learning and Mr. Prateek Sharma, Founder- Vishalya Foods and Farms elucidates their entrepreneurial journey with over 100 participants at the Tata Social Enterprise Challenge Thinking Social Seminar at Rabindranath Tagore University, Atal Incubation Centre, Bhopal on July 27,2019. The other speakers included Ronald Fernandez, CEO- Rabindranath Tagore University-Atal Incubation Centre;Santosh Dubey, Chancellor- Rabindranath Tagore University- Bhopal,V C Dubey- Nodal Officer,Start up and Incubation Cell
Department of MSME, Govt. of M.P.

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.

IIMCIP has partnered with the Mizoram government to launch the third edition of the biggest B-plan contest in the state. It was inaugurated by the chief secretary of Mizoram Lalnunmawia Chuaungo in Aizawl on 17th June 2019 and the event was attended by over 200 budding entrepreneurs. IIMCIP through this initiative aims to nurture the start-up ecosystem and promote entrepreneurship in the state by mentoring the young minds and connecting them with their desired markets as well as venture capitalists.

Assam Startup-The Nest successfully completed the three day boot-camp and orientation session for 52 selected incubatees from 9-11 June 2019. The 3-day workshop began with an ice-breaking session followed by a series of meticulous sessions on the key aspects of entrepreneurship. The startups have been familiarized with the crucial concepts of a business like design thinking, business and financial modelling, customer acquisition, marketing and branding, and so on. Some of the personalities to take sessions during the Bootcamp are, Prashant Mishra, Dean (New Initiatives and External Relations), IIM Calcutta; Rajesh Singhal, Asst. Vice President, Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd. (Times Group); Chandradeep Mitra, corporate trainer and startup mentor, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park; Dr. Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park; Pankaj Periwal,FCA (Branch in-charge for V.Singhi & Associates Guwahati) and Abhijit Bhuyan, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Bohniman Systems Pvt. Ltd., among others.

The mega pitching event, where 113 shortlisted startups from the incubation contest pitched before the jury on 11 May at The Nest in Assam. A bootcamp was held at The Nest on 10 May 2019 on “What Investors Want”. Speakers included Sushanto Mitra, Founder & CEO, Lead Angels; Chandradeep Mitra, Advisor & Mentor, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park; Vikram Duggal, Investor & Mentor, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park; Sanjay Enishetty, Managing Director & CEO, 50K Ventures. The Pitch Hatch received over 1000 applications

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.

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.

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park had launched Health Trail, an accelerator to foster start-ups endeavouring to offer innovative solutions to some of the largest health problems in our country, especially in the rural sector. The Demo Day was held on 13th April 2019 where 6 start-ups pitched to 6 leading investors from across the country.

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

IIM Calcutta Innovation Park organized “Thinking Social” seminar at The nest, Guwahati, Assam on 8th March, 2019. The speakers comprised senior bureaucrats from Government of Assam such as Ms. Manjula Saikia Bhuyan, IAS, Addl Secretary to the Government of Assam, Department of Commerce & Industries and Managing Director, Assam Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation, Shri Alok Kumar, IAS, Chief Secretary to Government of Assam, Shri Ravi Capoor, IAS, Addl. Chief Secretary to Government of Assam, Department of Commerce & Industries, Assam, Shri Rajiv Bora, IAS, Addl. Chief Secretary to Government of Assam, Department of Finance, Assam and Shri Puru Gupta, IAS, Secretary to Government of Assam, Department of Commerce & Industries, Assam. Social entrepreneurs from various parts of the country such as Mr. Abhinav Girdhar, Founder – Bodhi Health Education; Mr. Hironmoy Gogoi, Founder & Creative Head- GKK India (Gaon Ka Khana) & Proprietor- Blackhorse Marketing; Mr. Prantik Sinha, Founder – Agastya Buoyant; Mr. Anupam Nath, Co Founder- Xcraft Online shared their experiences with entrepreneurs, aspiring start ups, investors, mentors and students from all over North East.

The Janhit Jagran Idea Challenge Bootcamp was hosted by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park at the IIM Calcutta campus on 23^rd and 24^th February 2019. Nearly 30 start-ups attended the two-day bootcamp. The start-ups were mentored and guided on how to make a winning pitch. In addition, a team from VR SAARP & Co, a reputed CA firm, deliberated on compliance. Pitching sessions were also held during the bootcamp.