In a first of its kind venture unheard of in India, JGI Ventures is launching a program to incubate young student entrepreneurs with a fund base of INR 500 crores. The venture fund is linked to the IDEA (Incubating & Developing Entrepreneurial Ability) program launched by JGI Ventures.
India is all set to overtake industrialized nations including the US to become the second largest economy in the world, after China. India will achieve this distinction, driven by several factors and one of them will be the explosion of young entrepreneurial talent.
Currently, the lack of angel funding or very early stage seed money backed by professional guidance has prevented growth of start-ups in India. When compared to the number of potential entrepreneurs, engineering skills and product ideas, the options are few for funding a start-up through venture capital, angels and incubators.
Sensing the urgent need to mould the vast untapped entrepreneurial zest of young India, JGI Ventures, a venture fund promoted by Dr R Chenraj Jain will help build a stronger entrepreneur ecosystem in India by incubating business ventures among students through the iDEA Program.
JGI iDEA is Post Graduate Program in Entrepreneurial Ability with Guaranteed Investment & Incubation of Student’s Business Idea. The program is spread in 3 phases of 10months, 08months & 12 months. In the first phase, the student will be trained on the “how and why” of business ventures in a world-class residential campus in Bangalore. In Phase 2, the program will facilitate exposure and study of developing and developed international markets like China, Hong Kong, Germany, Philippines, and England in addition to absorbing the Indian Market conditions. An International business exposure to the student entrepreneur is mandated, as early global outlook has long-term multiplier business gains and the actual Business Plan will be developed in this phase.
In the last phase, JGI Ventures will incubate the Student Entrepreneur Venture, and through the next 12 months, highly experienced and accomplished professionals will continuously provide infrastructure support, expert advisory services, mentoring and coaching on all key entrepreneurial aspects. The entire gamut of strategy, marketing, HR, finance, legal understanding will be dealt with during the incubation period. Importantly, JGI Ventures will provide active assistance in terms of networking, funding, customer and acquisition. Existing family run enterprises will also benefit in terms of growth funding options being made available in addition to the above.
“The momentum of the vibrant Indian economy can be sustained only through strong entrepreneurship. Young India has the potential to change course, take risks and achieve greater heights. We strongly believe in the youth and would like to contribute to their growth path that in turn would help in powering the nation’s development”, said Dr. R Chenraj Jain, the visionary behind the concept. “iDEA aims at preparing entrepreneurs not only with skill sets of business management, but also help in facilitating the much-needed capital, which often impedes talented entrepreneurs to start a business.”
“JGI Ventures has already incubated 46 start-ups with a combined turnover of around Rs. 147 crores and has plans to incubate 350 businesses by 2015 with a combined turnover of Rs. 3500 crores”, added Dr Jain.
“iDEA has established a working relationship with ICGC Consulting, Germany to provide hands-on experience to the students of international business management. The collaboration will facilitate meetings for the student entrepreneurs with international venture capitalists, businesses etc that are planning to expand to India. It will also enable student entrepreneurs to get Incubation support in Germany, China and Hong Kong”, said Mr. Hemachandran Seshadri, CEO - JGI Ventures.
Speaking about the program, Ms. Yeshasvini Ramaswamy, Anchor JGI iDEA & Member – Management Team - JGI Ventures said, “We are excited to initiate this program which we believe will help in transforming India much faster than it is happening. The program will identify and support student entrepreneurs who are passionate about building businesses of excellence on par with global corporations.”
The panel includes an impressive set of angel investors, successful entrepreneurs and experienced professionals. The list of entities supporting the concept is growing and some of them are The Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), Cipher, Bee Hive, Credilla, Karur Vysya Bank, Syndicate Bank, and other national banks, besides associations like TiE, CSI, and CII.
With the industry acknowledging the power of the catalyst – “Investment Ready” plans for budding entrepreneurs from day 1 – JGI Ventures continues to seek out relevant collaborations.
www.JGIidea.org