The 89-year-old Andhra Chamber of Commerce has set up a business incubator to promote and nurture entrepreneurship.
The eight-seater incubator is at the basement of the chamber’s Chennai office. The incubator will have an intake capacity of eight incubates in the initial stage and the minimum lock-in period permitted is two years.
Aid and funding
“They will be provided with business idea assistance, funding and marketing. The focus will be on non-tech business ventures like retail, education, hospitality and healthcare,” said Ms. Ramavenugopal, Chairman, Women Entrepreneurship Development Sub-Committee.
“A six-member committee would monitor the incubator. We have several chamber members who have showed interest in mentoring these start-ups,” she said, adding that anyone with a good business idea can approach the chamber.
N. Ravi, Director, Kasturi and Sons, who delivered the keynote address, suggested the chamber reach out to more students and entrepreneurs. He also said that earlier companies started small and grew big. “Today, start-ups get absorbed by big companies. The temptation of promoters to sell off comes in between and is growing,” he said.
P.V. Subba Reddy, General Manager, Bank of Baroda, said, “Start-up activity is gaining momentum in India. Banks are also coming forward to provide loans to the tune of ₹10 lakh up to a crore are being disbursed by various banks,” he said.
