Moving beyond the Kerala shores, Startup
Village made a triumphal march into Andhra Pradesh by bringing the
unique technology incubator to the state and validating its mandate
to foster entrepreneurship and the culture of innovation in the
country.
The Andhra Pradesh government inked an MoU with
Startup Village at Visakhapatnam yesterday to create 1000
startups over the next five years in the state.
The MoU, initialled by Startup Village
Chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar and Mr. Sanjay Jaju, Secretary,
Information Technology and Communication, Andhra Pradesh
government, makes Andhra Pradesh the second state in the country
to have a startup village for creating a vibrant entrepreneurial
ecosystem and a world class incubation facility at Visakhapatnam.
Startup Village will launch Rasberry Pie programme
for school children and startup boot camps in engineering colleges
towards creating a strong foundation to achieve the objective of
creating 1000 startups in Andhra Pradesh.
“It is a huge endorsement of Startup Village,
India’s first telecom and Internet incubator which is making
determined efforts to build a Silicon Coast in the country,” said
Mr. Vijayakumar (30), who is also CEO of MobME Wireless, the
country’s first campus startup.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, who
inaugurated the startup project on the PPP model, known as
Technology Research and Innovation Park (TRIP), praised the Startup
Village at Kochi. TRIP is a
world class facility spread over 17,000 sq ft at the IT layout,
Madhurawada in Visakhapatnam.
“Startup Village is a nation-building
activity to create a startup ecosystem so that the youth in the
nation can create new opportunities brought by the Internet
revolution. It has changed the mindset of Keralites from being
job-seekers to job-creators and this mindset change is unbelievable”
he said.
Conveying his deep appreciation for the Startup
Village model, Shri Naidu said he was convinced that the model would
be replicated completely in the new state of Andhra Pradesh for
creating an entrepreneurial culture.
“Even if you fail, I want you to keep
attempting till you succeed. The government will completely back risk
taking by youth to create new jobs, knowledge and wealth in the
society,” Mr. Naidu told the over 200 students who were present. He
also announced to personally take the 15 bright student entrepreneurs
found out through the Sunrise Startups Programme to the Silicon
Valley.
Vijayakumar said Startup Village is a unique PPP
model that creates the entire gamut of startup ecosystem, including
world class policies, infrastructure, incubation, Silicon Valley
landing pad and angel fund for young startup companies to Build,
Break and Innovate on their ideas and create successful product
companies.
“The incubator model, which has created
significant changes in the entrepreneurial climate of Kerala,
especially amongst the youth, will work with a broad spectrum of
stakeholders, including universities, colleges and students along
with industry and private partners, to build a world class startup
ecosystem in Andhra Pradesh,” he noted.
Startup Village CEO Pranav Suresh said the
replication of Startup Village in Andhra Pradesh would give a fillip
to its pioneering efforts to create entrepreneurs straight from
college campuses.
“The successful and homegrown businessmen
from Andhra Pradesh have shown their willingness to share their
experience and wisdom as Patrons and Mentors. It will give an impetus
to the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the state,” he
said. “India needs many such facilities where young students can
dream about building a new future.”
Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder of Infosys and
Chief Mentor of Startup Village who attended the event as Special
Guest, recounted that Infosys was started in a rented flat when the
founders were young as there was no risk. “The youth have to take
advantage of new opportunities,” he added.
Startup Village has the stated goal of finding a
billion dollar campus startup from India within the next 10 years.
The biggest advantage of Startup Village is that its
carries the experience of having attracted over 5000 applications and
incubated more than 700 companies of which 256 are student startups.
“This experience of creating an entrepreneurial culture is
unparalleled in India and Visakhapatnam has become the second
location to have a Startup village after Kochi,” he noted.
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