Villgro launches ‘Incubating Incubators’ to strengthen India’s start-up ecosystem

Incubators enterprise Villgro has launched ‘Incubating Incubators Program’ to strengthen the startup ecosystem in India. The program will develop the capacity of incubators through an incubation model focused on one-on-one mentoring, fundraising demos with donors to build long term partnerships, and other varied learning opportunities from Villgro.

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), India will provide assistance to the first cohort of 22 incubators. Notable advisors like Chand Das, former Co-founder & CEO, ITC Classmate; Rama Kannan, Master Coach, International Coaching Federation and Board Member, Beyond Capital; Srinivas Ramanujam, CEO, Villgro India; Mohammad Azhar, Programme Lead, Villgro India, and Arun Venkatesan, CEO, Villgro USA will guide the cohort during their journey.

The program will commence on April 12, 2021 and the incubators will graduate from the program on June 30, 2021 with ready to use tools and templates, incubation plans, business models, enhanced strategic direction, sectoral knowledge and a customised roadmap to kick-start their journey in the startup ecosystem.

Srinivas Ramanujam, CEO, Villgro India said that over the past year since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian startup ecosystem has created several innovative solutions to ensure consistent operations amid unprecedented challenges and resources constraints. 

“We are happy to partner with the Ministry of MSME and GIZ India who will also guide the present cohort with knowledge of the domain and help them bolster to the new normal in which we are all operating today,” added Ramanujam. 

Some of the cohort’s key activities include Diagnostic and Solution Panel, Incubation Playbook, VITALS (Villgro Information Tracking and Learning System), Portfolio Management, and interactions with Donors, Corporates and Investors.

Mohammad Azhar, Programme Lead, Villgro India said that an incubator provides startups with mentoring, technical assistance, access to market and finance, and enables them to develop a sustainable and scalable business model. 

“Our trainers are very well equipped with Villgro’s Incubation Playbook that contains four practical modules with portfolio management tools and templates that provide exposure to the best practices and impart learnings from our experience of working with startups across sectors over two decades,” added Azhar.