Nirmesh Singh
New Delhi | 03 Aug 2017
To give boost to agri startups, the National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) in association with IIM – Ahmedabad on Thursday launched “AGRI UDAAN” – Food and Agribusiness Accelerator 2.0 programme. This is a 6 month program in which shortlisted agri startups with promising innovative business models will be mentored and guided to scale up their operations with a working prototype and initial market traction.
Director of NAARM Ch Srinivasa Rao said, “The startups will learn about different aspects of capacity building such as technology commercialization, business plan preparation and finance management”.
The application for selection of startups is available at www.aidea.naarm.org.in. Applications will be evaluated by mentors from industry, business and partner organizations. Based on the average scores top 40 startups will be shortlisted and allowed to pitch in front of panel of evaluators during cohort finalization programme on 9th and 10th of October 2017 at NAARM. Out of these about 8 to 12 startups will be selected for final cohort for capacity building workshop.
The shortlisted cohort of startups will undergo a capacity building (CB) workshop in ICAR-NAARM. During this period, the startups will be trained in different aspects of technology commercialization, product validation, business plan preparation, risk analysis, customer engagement, finance management, fund raising etc. There will be a match making between startup-mentor. The accelerator program will culminate with demo day/ investors meet at Hyderabad and Mumbai.
Starting from 8th August 2017, the NAARM will be organizing road shows to publicize the Agri Udaan programme in Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai.
NS Rathore, Deputy Director General (Education) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) said, “We had implemented the programme on small-scale in 2015, in which three startups were able to convert their ideas into innovative products. The programme is aimed at nurturing entrepreneurial skills among people, especially the youths who would be educated about the opportunities and how to avail them”.
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