IIM-Bangalore to launch incubator for non-profits startups

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Startup India campaign is making a spark again. All thanks to management expertise and venture philanthropy, The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore is launching a startup incubator in joining hands with the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation exclusively to support nonprofit organisations which are in there initial phase of starting-up and working particularly in the field of education, financial inclusion, and jobs and livelihoods for the urban poor.

The Dell Foundation is investing Rs 4.2 crore as a three-year grant project for originating the incubator idea from scratch as it is a first of its kind and which as reported primarily will be placed inside IIM-B's NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) on September this year.

The main focus of the project is to developing leaders and entrepreneurs in the country. NSRCEL chairperson (entrepreneurial ecosystem development) professor Suresh Bhagavatula said to Economic Times, “Entrepreneurship inherently has high levels of uncertainties, which translates into greater tendency towards failure, especially during the early stages of the venture." "Sponsorship models such as incubation have been quite effective in helping for-profit startups navigate the the turbulent early stages. However, not much work has been done on nurturing non-profit social ventures. This attempt of ours is one of the early attempts to do so," he added.