EThames ELabZ to incubate 1,000 non-tech startups in 10 yrs

Hyderabad: With an objective to encourage entrepreneurship skills among non-engineering students, city-based EThames College has launched EThames ElabZ incubation programme in partnership with TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Hyderabad Chapter and International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad. It has charted out plans to incubate 1,000 non-tech startups over next 10 years. EThames College will conduct two-day idea-validation workshops to choose the student startups for EThames ElabZ in its first boot camp at IIIT-H in a couple of weeks. It plans to create Rs 1-crore corpus fund by the second year of the incubation programme. It also aims to fund at least 10 startups every year with Rs 10 lakh each.

Launching the programme, Telangana Commissioner of Technical and Collegiate Education Navin Mittal said, "This kind of programme is the need of the hour. Instead of seeking jobs, our students must try to become successful entrepreneurs to create more employment opportunities. We have also partnered with TiE Hyderabad and started similar programme in government degree colleges."

On the occasion, Suresh Raju, President, TiE Hyderabad, said: "Most of the times, money is not an issue for the startups, but a clear business plan is the matter of concern. The startups will succeed if they get good support to execute their plan. EThames ElabZ is the first incubation programme in the non-engineering space and I am sure it will turn as the largest incubator in South India over next five years."

He further said that there is a 10X growth in startup funding ecosystem across the country with as many as 803 venture capital funds registered at the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) when compared to a decade-ago period. There is more money chasing the right ideas in the market, he said. India has the third-largest ecosystem for startups in the world and it is expected to witness rapid YoY annual growth of more than 15 per cent. As enterprises realise the disruptive potential of startups and more and more VCs are eager to invest in them, there are unlimited opportunities for the student to take up entrepreneurship at a very early age and realise their dreams.

Kali Prasad Gadiraju, Chairman – EThames College said, "Indian economy is also growing rapidly and creating more and more opportunities to create consumer brands at the national and international levels. With the sole objective to enable students to pursue entrepreneurship through a series of programmes and activities, EThames College has launched this exclusive incubation programme."

"While we have witnessed incubation programmes developed at universities and engineering colleges, this is the first time, we are introducing incubation programme at the graduation level that focuses on inspiring the students to build consumer brands and brick and motor companies which will create more employment," he added.

EThames ELabZ programme was designed by industry experts keeping in mind the students' ability to think, grasp and perform so as to meet the intricacies of a good startup. The programme creates awareness and inspires the students to pursue entrepreneurship through outreach meetups, motivational talks, and AMA sessions. It also delivers basic know-how on entrepreneurship.