The first bootcamp of FOCUS – The North East Accelerator – a collaborative initiative between IIM Calcutta Innovation Park & Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) – concluded in Guwahati
The first bootcamp of FOCUS – The North East Accelerator – a collaborative initiative between IIM Calcutta Innovation Park & Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) – concluded in Guwahati on 26 Sep’21 following the 3-day proceedings thick with knowledge sharing and startup handholding.
12 revenue-stage startups from North East India selected for the program got the opportunity to interact with India’s cream of entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts, who have graciously agreed to lend their support to the North Eastern startups through the Acceleration Program.
The first day of the bootcamp bore witness to the impeccable power sessions by Christopher Doyle, Founder, The Growth Catalysts; Kashyap Vadapalli, Chief Marketing Officer & Business Head, Pepperfry.com
; and Somenath Mukherjee, Co-Founder, Hearing Plus.
While the startups picked up key takeaways from the power sessions, the second day of the bootcamp gave them the opportunity to engage face-to-face with mentors from across the country like Sivan Menon, Founder & CEO, Sangiti; Vikrant Varshney, Managing Partner, SucSeed Indovatio; Subodh Kumar, Advisor, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.; Kaustav Majumdar, Advisor & Member, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Ranjeet S., Venture Partner, YourNest Venture Capital; Subhadeep Sanyal, Partner, Omnivore; Abhilash Sethi, Principal, Omnivore; Tarun Adlakha, Founder, Ashwatha Ventures; Hemant Kohli, Serial Entrepreneur & Angel Investor; Smita P Mishra, Founder, Fandoro; Vatsal Gaur, Partner, Pier Counsel; Vasant Subramanyan, Founder & CEO, Last Peak Group; Rahul Chauhan, Share Investment Strategist; Kaustubh Rishi, Founder, IQmation; Subhanker Sarker, Chief of Strategy & Growth, Zykrr; Suman Mukhopadhyay, Director, Banglanatak dot com; Dr. Pranjal Kumar Phukan, Strategy Consultant & Supply Chain Specialist; and Subir Singha, Head Agri business & Business Development, Travulu.startups, besides the mentors from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park. The day concluded with a Fireside Chat with the investors who had flown down to Guwahati to mentor the startups.
Based on their one-to-one interaction with their respective mentors on the second day, the startups, on the final day of the bootcamp, had made a presentation highlighting the specific bottlenecks and the suggestions from the mentors to unblock them.