IIM Kashipur giving Wings to Women Entrepreneurs

Kashipur: IIM Kashipur’s incubation center – The Foundation for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (FIED) is working aggressively to develop an entrepreneurship ecosystem in India, and lending a helping hand to aspiring entrepreneurs by way of training, mentorship, funding, and market connect. Supported by the Department of Science and Technology, the center has already created a mentor pool of more than 200 mentors from all walks of life, has developed liaisoning with various institutions, and is able to create the pool of investors to take a giant step towards its goal of becoming a force to reckon with in the ecosystem of entrepreneurship in Uttarakhand and beyond.

To help the gig workers back to the hills from the metro cities during the pandemic, FIED launched the Uday program in collaboration with Uttarakhand Gramya Vikas Yojana (UGVS), Govt of Uttarakhand to help hill farmers learn the nuances of value addition and launch their own micro food processing units. More than 280 participants took part in the program held in Rudrapur following strict social distancing norms. The program was a huge success, for the farmers of Uttarakhand could see the benefits of value additions and to create multiple sources of revenue.

Last week, FIED launched a Women Entrepreneurship Program named as Words with Women Entrepreneurs (W3E). On this occasion, Professor Safal Batra, Managing Director, FIED stated that – “We, at IIM Kashipur, are committed to nurturing and supporting the women entrepreneurs of India, so they go on to nurture the country and create jobs for others.” Dr. Anita Gupta, the head of NSTEBD of The Department of Science and Technology, was the chief guest at the inauguration event. She was really impressed with the participation in the program. She addressed the cohort, comprising of 120+ participants from the nook and corners of the country and laced with endless fervor and enthusiasm, and highlighted the various schemes and plans the Govt. of India has for women entrepreneurs. In the end, she concluded her address by congratulating FIED for becoming one of the top 20 incubators in the country to receive the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme. FIED is one of the incubators in the country to receive 5 crore seed funds to give to promising startups as ‘grant’ or ‘equity funding’.

FIED is supporting 72 incubatee startups currently, and runs various projects and programs to ensure that the spirit of entrepreneurship is always alive.