SPJIMR announces new funding accelerator initiative- Vriddhi- to spur growth in FMBs

Mumbai : The Centre for Family Business & Entrepreneurship (CFBE) at Bhavan’s S P Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR) has announced the launch of a new initiative aimed at enabling family businesses meet their funding gaps to help drive a new phase of growth. The new initiative, called ‘Vriddhi’, is a platform that will connect family businesses which are fund seekers with those that are fund providers, and will work as a funding accelerator exclusively available to SPJIMR’s alumni and participants belonging to the CFBE.

Vriddhi’ would be directed at family businesses that seek growth along with transformative change that can come when traditional business leadership and professional management work together to innovate, diversify and/or scale operations with speed. It will help route funds, offer due diligence, and add a layer of professional expertise under the SPJIMR umbrella to guide, support and drive growth.

At its core, ‘Vriddhi’ is envisaged as a SPJIMR platform for nurturing entrepreneurship ventures among the next-generation in family businesses. The goal is to help such businesses grow and scale beyond traditional boundaries and help create world-class businesses. At the same time, the initiative will build new ties and strengthen the Family Business ecosystem, creating opportunities for what is considered patient capital and entrepreneurship rooted in an understanding of Indian market needs and aspirations.

In 2021, the World Bank estimated the credit gap for Indian MSMEs – mostly family businesses – at US$ 380 billion, a need that cannot be met by financial institutions alone. Such a large credit gap presents a financing opportunity for a range of funders, including other family businesses through their family offices or angel investors among business families with surplus funds.

The platform will offer a four-stage process that will run for about four months with each proposal, beginning with an application stage and ending with a pitch and the matching of family business investors with businesses seeking funds. SPJIMR will charge nominal professional fees for the service.

The minimum ticket size for funds to be raised has been set at a modest Rs. 25 lakhs. The Institute will also study and support proposals for bigger amounts of debt as well as equity.

Bhavan’s SPJIMR, which ranks among the top five business schools in India today, is a pioneer in management education targeted at family businesses, which are the backbone of the Indian economy. In its 25th year, the Centre for Family Business & Entrepreneurship, through its various programmes and initiatives, especially the flagship post-graduate programme in Family Managed Business, has been guiding and mentoring family businesses across multiple sectors to grow and scale their businesses. It boasts of an alumni network of over 4,000, with a presence across all Indian states and Union Territories, and select neighbouring Indian countries, especially Nepal.

Speaking of the launch, Dr.Varun Nagaraj, Dean, SPJIMR said, “At SPJIMR, our mission is to influence practice and promote value-based growth. Family businesses contribute approximately 70% to India’s GDP and are key to our economy’s growth. With Vriddhi, we are aiming to impact the family business ecosystem and facilitate next generation family entrepreneurship.”

Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman Axilor Ventures and Co-founder Infosys said, “I compliment SPJIMR’s CFBE on this initiative. We need many more such initiatives to support start-ups and entrepreneurship. We need to support these with domestic capital that is smartly invested. We need more mentors to guide these start-ups. I believe that our national goal of reaching a $10 trillion economy will partly be driven by innovation, start-ups, and entrepreneurship. We need to channel 15% of our wealth into new business creation.”

Dr. Tulsi Jayakumar, Chairperson, CFBE, SPJIMR said, “Through Vriddhi, we seek to provide not just financial capital to family businesses, but also the EQ Capital, Network Capital, and Engagement Capital that are unique to the family business ecosystem.”