IIMV hosts graduation day of Women Startup Programme
Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam (IIMV) conducted the graduation day ceremony of the Women Startup Programme (WSP) at its campus at a glittering function on Saturday evening.
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Visakhapatnam: Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam (IIMV) conducted the graduation day ceremony of the Women Startup Programme (WSP) at its campus at a glittering function on Saturday evening.
Twenty startups graduated from the cohort. The IIMV Foundation for Incubation, Entrepreneurial Learning and Development (IIMV Field) is one of the fastest growing incubators in India with seven flagship programmes. Out of the 60 ventures, which it has incubated, 46 are led by women entrepreneurs.
Some of the women entrepreneurs of the WSP also shared their experiences. Harshita Lalchand, founder of All is Well said "hard work, patience, and belief are what helped me throughout my entrepreneurial journey. Also, to add on it is the right guidance and mentorship from IIMV-Field that has enabled my vision to transform into a reality."
Shruthi Ajmera Reddy, founder of Hapup said "sincerity and the support from all the IIMV-Field mentors have enabled me to cross all the hurdles and go ahead in my entrepreneurial journey."
Aruna Gali, founder of School Radio, spoke about her key learnings and how she overcame her obstacles in her entrepreneurial journey.
Aparna, founder of Vidh-Ya said "every beginning has an end, and hence our journey begins today." She also emphasised the importance of having a visionary mind, determination, and self-belief in the entrepreneurial journey.
Addressing the gathering, Neha Mishra, CEO of the Fin Lit Project and an alumnus of IIT Madras, quoted Oscar Wilde to say "success doesn't rush, the greatest reward is the journey." Sharing one of the important learnings from her entrepreneurial journey, she said 99 per cent is execution and 1 per cent is the idea.
She also observed that the best investment one can make is in the people around oneself and everything will fall in place with the right amount of hard work and perseverance throughout the journey.
Program Director Prof Mohammed Shameem Jawed congratulated the graduating entrepreneurs and highlighted they are a special cohort that achieved even more milestones of success than their predecessors, despite the challenges of the pandemic. He also spoke about the key partnerships and collaborations of IIMV Field-AWS/Azure credits, access to platforms such as RazorPay and Kotak Mahindra banking solutions for startups, and platforms for funding support such as Yonos, FundEnable, and Arthayan.
Prof M Chandrasekhar, Director IIMV, emphasised the importance of 3 Ps-patience, passion and perseverance in an entrepreneurial journey. He spoke about the recent achievements of IIMV-Field and funding support from organisations such as MTAR Technologies Ltd. Hyderabad, a high-tech precision engineering company, serving core sectors such as nuclear, space and defence.
He highlighted the host of new initiatives which IIMV Field launched this year such as the NIDHI (National Initiative for Development & Harnessing of Innovations) Accelerator program of the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), for supporting women-led ventures, and the Vidyarthi 2 Vyavasayi program for Andhra Pradesh students from engineering and science institutions, in collaboration with S2Tech Pvt Ltd (a Silicon Valley-based tech fund).
