The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), the State government’s nodal agency for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities, has embarked on a novel initiative that provides nascent companies opportunities to access experienced and successful mentors across the globe so as to gain their knowledge, expertise, and experience.
Named MIND, which is the acronym for Mentor Inspired Networking on Demand, the bimonthly programme focuses on various aspects of entrepreneurship including business strategy and development, fundraising, sales, and marketing of human resources.
The programme, which connects like-minded mentors who were themselves seeking advice initially, offers participants an opportunity to build long-term relationships with mentors who can support and guide start-ups.
A press release said on Tuesday that the debut edition of MIND was held in Kozhikode last week. Involving 10 mentors and 30 start-ups, the event saw 73 interactions.
“The primary objective is to bridge the gap between start-ups and mentors,” said KSUM Chief Executive Officer Anoop Ambika. “It provides a platform for mentorship and networking. We aim to nurture an ecosystem where start-ups can get access to high-quality advice from experienced professionals,” he said.
According to Merak Venture Associate Principal Pranav Sanghi, his company is proactively looking at businesses emerging out of Kerala, and MIND is the first step in that direction.
The other mentors at the event included Venture Way CMD Vijay Kynadi, NSRCEL-IIM Bengaluru resident mentor Dr. Archana Pillai, R. Rajan Associates partner Harikrishnan Vasudevan, ESAF digital banking Head Swaminathan Krishnamoorthy, IBM competency leader Santhosh Melekalathil, Geojit Financial Services executive director A. Balakrishnan, Entri App founder Muhammad Hizamuddin, ZuperAp founder-CEO Roshan Kynadi, and clean energy expert Deepak Balachandran.
