The move by RIL and Microsoft in favour of expanding start-up industry in India, does not only encourage budding entrepreneurs, but also inspires many who choose to work for themselves.
The venture investment management arm of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Gennext, and Microsoft ventures have signed a three-year partnership, to help start-ups grow with seed capital, mentorship and technology.
The partnership is a three-year plan now, and is named as GenNext Innovation Hubs.
The memorandum of understanding was signed by RIL board member R A Mashelkar and Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik. The first setup will start operations from next month at Navi Mumbai.
The hub will provide a mentor and initial phase funding to the selected start-up.
Apart from that, the hub will also guide the enterprise to grown into a business by extending the products and services via accessing its business units in India. Microsoft India, operates with the same intention in nine countries including the US, UK, Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, and China.
The Microsoft unit at Bangalore has three units- accelerators, community and fund. While accelerators offer programmes aimed at bringing down the launch programmes for start-ups, a Microsoft team mingles with start-ups to provide technical support and sponsorship in community. Fund unit provides entrepreneur-friendly investments to early stage companies.
GenNext Innovation hub will provide the opportunity to selected group of entrepreneurs to launch or re-strategize their company through a four-month long programme, the schedule of which includes workshops for entrepreneurs, mentor meetings, access to customers and investors, and weekly business reviews.
The move by RIL and Microsoft in favour of expanding start-up industry in India, does not only encourage budding entrepreneurs, but also inspires many who choose to work for themselves. Unlike a number of other programmes, the hub has not been launched to generate profit, but to boost the entrepreneurship industry in India.
