iB Hubs, a PAN-India startup hub believes students are the creators of next wave of innovation in the society. However, it is necessary for students to instil a problem-solving mindset that will lead to a proactive search for solutions. The more we inculcate the entrepreneurial attitude within students, the further they’ll go towards finding gaps that need to be filled. iB Hubs announced iB Hubs Startup School, that works on instilling an entrepreneurial mindset in youngsters, who will act as role models for their peers and the society. To ensure the best participation, this specially designed 4-week accelerator program charges zero fees and zero equity.
Becoming a buzzword of this summer break, the program has received applications from 500+ student entrepreneurs from across 23 states and 140+ institutions including the premier institutions such as IITs, NITs, BITS Pilani etc.
iB Hubs envisions to develop a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in every nook and corner of India. It was inaugurated by Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO NITI Aayog, on November 13, 2016. With a mission to establish 2500 centres across the country by 2019, it has already set up 35 hubs in 7 states, with nodal centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Lucknow.
The firm has a strong team of 1000+ young people with 200+ full-time working individuals including engineers, doctors and management professionals. Most members of the team are alumni of institutions such as IITs, IIMs, ISB, NITs, IIIT Hyderabad and BITS Pilani with work experience in MNCs such as Amazon, Intel, Qualcomm, HP, Nvidia, IBM, Samsung, and Bosch.
Speaking about iB Hubs Startup School, Mr S Vijay Kumar, Chief Mentor of iB Hubs, says, “Developing an entrepreneurial mindset will enable youngsters to see opportunity in every problem they come across. As this influences them to start discussing “solutions” rather than complaining about “problems”, the country will see a phase shift. At iB Hubs, we’re on a mission to take the problem-solving culture as a nation-wide movement. And through iB Hubs Startup School, we are creating role models and evangelists to do it.”
Speaking about the vision behind iB Hubs Startup School, K. Radha Alekhya, CEO of iB Hubs, says, “iB Hubs Startup School isn’t just a summer program. We’re dedicated to making role models here.That’s exactly the reason why we’re offering this program with Zero Fee and Zero Equity and continued support even after the program concludes. We’re also bringing the whole startup ecosystem together by connecting the participants with mentors, angel investors, industry experts, successful startup founders and CEOs. Furthermore, our global platform is accessible for startups who want to go global.”
Program Details:
With two batches at Hyderabad and Lucknow (Batch-1: May – June & Batch-2: June – July), the iB Hubs Startup School program is an intense period of focused learning and rapid experimentation that enables student entrepreneurs to step out of their comfort zone to build, launch and scale their ventures.
The program helps student entrepreneurs adopt the lean startup and design thinking principles, identify and validate their target customers, master the business model canvas, build team competencies and learn the nitty-gritty of fundraising.
The program culminates with a Demo Day where top promising startups get an opportunity to pitch their ventures in front of renowned angel investors and venture capitalists.
Key highlights of the program include the:
– one-on-one mentoring for the start-ups with industry veterans
– specially curated talks, fireside chats and panel discussions with seasoned entrepreneurs and experts, and,
– starter kits and credits from corporate partners
Let us hope that this initiative by team iB Hubs would empower student entrepreneurs as the Indian startup ecosystem matures.