Startup Capital, Contacts, Angels, Mentor, Launch-pad, office identity, recognition - Are these some of barriers of starting up your own venture? If you still think that it is then you haven’t heard of Entrepreneurship cells or Business Incubators

 “Heads I win; Tails I don’t lose much” is the strategy of a smart Entrepreneur. And the first time I heard it, it wasn’t coming form the pep talk of a serial Entrepreneur or an international incubator but from scribbled notes of a student at a state level Venture Capitalists’ event. The nineteen year old had travelled across several cities to discuss his business plan with the big wigs. Although the plan was as clichéd as setting up another franchisee of a food outlet, but what fascinated me was his innovative idea of cutting back on power consumption  by using green architecture and solar energy. His model promised to bring the electricity bill down by 20% in a normal Mc-Donald’s style fast food outlet. Perhaps the only thing lacking were some professional guidance and an intelligent Incubator. 

The term ‘Entrepreneur’ is quite glamorized since past few years when Magazines, TV shows and movies have been glorifying entrepreneurs, especially those who gave up a steady career to be their own boss. Michael Dell, founder of Dell computer, has been talked about in dozens of magazine articles for being a successful entrepreneur despite being a college dropout (actually he started Dell in his college dormitory by supplying cheap PCs to fellow students).

Today the scene is slightly different. One doesn’t have to wait to be a college drop-out or in fact pass a degree to become an Entrepreneur. Most of us have an entrepreneurial streak in us, and at some point think that the ideal job in the world would be to become our own boss instead of being answerable to one. Starting our own business or venture becomes a natural extension of this entrepreneurial urge. And the sooner it begins, the better it is.

Initially, entrepreneurship courses were meant to literally 'produce entrepreneurs'. In 1947, Harvard Business School (HBS) developed a course titled 'Management of Small Enterprises' for students eager to start their own businesses after World War II. The real thrust into teaching and research in the area came in the early 1980s when HBS graduate and pioneering venture capitalists Arthur Rock funded the first professorship in the field of entrepreneurship at HBS.  This slowly seeped into our business schools. “Today the courses are replaced by what we call Entrepreneurship cells in colleges. They fine tune a business idea and help it sell to Venture capitalists,” says Rahul Deshpande, an HBS alumnus and an Investment Manager. He adds, “An incubation centre is equally necessary for the haven it is and the strong network it provides.”

One of the finest examples of an Entrepreneurship cell would be Ecell of IITB. Eureka, their flagship event and perhaps Asia’s biggest business plan competition recorded 2,200 registrations last year. Every year, four companies emerge out of these events and competitions. On being probed if Ecell wishes to spread the enthusiasm bug elsewhere, Harsh Shah, the MD of Ecell for past three years reveals,” The Global Conference of Ecell has been mentoring small student bodies to initiate such cells in 45colleges across India. With support from top colleges and Entrepreneurship cells from institutes like IIT-D, BITS-Pilani, IIM-B etc, we pay extensive visits and invite the team to be mentored to our day to day discussions to get a fair understanding of how this works.”

Starting up is the most vulnerable phase of the entrepreneurial journey. This is the period when founders need to concentrate and spend most of their times on their basic idea and leave the rest for others to manage and this is where the incubators play a very vital role. Though there are various models of business incubators (even some which in themselves are revenue generating models) but the focus here is primarily those at academic institutions.

According to a secondary survey there are around 25+ business incubators situated in academic institutions in India and most of them are backed by National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), a fairly government initiative.

Let’s look at some success stories –

Society for innovation and entrepreneurship (SINE) at IIT Bombay has been doing a great job since its inception in 1999-2000. With more than 32 companies in the last 7 years and a success rate of 90% is something which cannot be ignored. Out of these 32 companies, 9 graduated or got acquired, 11 were funded by angel investors and strategic partners while in incubator and only 4 closed shop. Geosyndicate Power, Webaroo technology, Bhugol GIS are some of the jewels in the crown.

CIIE at IIM Ahmedabad set up with the support of Govt of Gujarat and Dept. of Science and technology boasts of 16 companies that have seen the world.  CIIE also provides the unique opportunity of mentoring or “partneuring” virtually. VMukti, Mantis and Ants ceramics are some of the heroes from IIMA.

In this run for the hunt of next Google’s and Apple’s, even the private universities are not left behind. The Technology Business Incubator at Vellore Institute of technology has 9 incubates who have already graduated and 11 are presently running shops. Amity University has the Amity Innovation Incubator which has around 15 current, gradated and virtually run incubates. Nirma Institute has developed a specialized Design lab to enrich and enhance the design focus of companies in India.

However the disparity between the regional college and top level institute like IITs with utmost resources and exposure cannot be neglected. An Entrepreneurship and Incubation Survey conducted by Why?Newton Research & Media (March, 2010) across 59 Managerial and Engineering campuses revealed some glaring statistics. 50%* colleges in India do not have an Entrepreneurship and Incubation Centre in their college and only 22 % have both*. The result, a whooping 87%* felt that regional colleges lack in initiating Entrepreneurship drives and Symposiums due to the lack of exposure. The major focus is only on IIT's and IIM's.  The survey also established a hopeful sign that 81%* were interested in starting up these cells in their and other colleges if given an opportunity.

Now even colleges are seeking to set up incubation centres. The MES Garware college of Pune is one success stories that has been actively holding entrepreneurial events since past four years under the leadership of Ecell of IITB. Kapil Joshi, the team leader for the Motivated Enterprising Students’ Club (MES-Club) spoke of the journey so far, “Although we are a small team of 10 but with the entrepreneurial spirit refusing to die down, we have been successfully conducting several state level competitions throughout the year.”      

The urgency of initiating a start-up environment looms large for the existing organizations aren’t appealing any more. It is also to do with the fact that the maximum salaries an engineer can get out of a company are not a pretty picture in tier two colleges. The bargain is sad- exorbitant fees but meagre packages through placements. The placement scenario in engineering colleges across India is reflective of why start-ups have to be taken up as a full time profession and not a back-up plan.  A private survey (Mint- 2009) reflected that despite paying an annual fee of over Rs. 40, ooo, a regional college student’s salary can go as low as Rs. 72,000 pa and some colleges do not even assure a prospect for placement.

The future belongs to the Entrepreneurs as the key driver of economic development. The aim has to be to convert job seekers into job creators. Entrepreneurial skills are also required to anticipate changes, identify opportunities, and create a high-performance working environment according to the realities demanded by global competition. Amidst the ruffle of paper handling for statistical evidence of growing Entrepreneurial flame, Harsh snapped and summed it up for most of us WHY some colleges haven’t yet taken up a step towards an E and I cell, “The change can come when people take Entrepreneurship as a serious business and not as a back up plan.”

*The following figures are purely based on the findings of this private survey filled in by respondents from 59 varied colleges and universities.