CII to initiate incubation programme for budding entrepreneurs

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 18

To strengthen the startup ecosystem in the region, industry body CII-Northern region will soon initiate an incubation programme for handholding budding entrepreneurs and help them in networking to find potential investors.

In addition to this, it would also drive the agenda through regional committee on startups along with CII Centre of Innovation, Entrepreneurships and Startups.

“For startups and entrepreneurship, the CII will bridge critical gaps such as capacity, resources and linkages through targeted programmes and interventions. We will also help startups leverage the corporate network to fast-track their growth through corporate accelerator programme. We will also help the corporates in identifying budding startups for forging business partnerships and investors to select potential startups for investing,” said Deepak Jain, chairman, CII-Northern Region and CMD of Lumax Industries Ltd.

The northern region comprising Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh has around 6,000 startups recognised by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. According to insiders, lack of investor ecosystem, especially funding, lack of mentorship and industry involvement, and an overall absence of readily available talent are the biggest problems that startups face in this region.

Will bridge critical gaps

For startups and entrepreneurship, the CII will bridge critical gaps such as capacity, resources and linkages through targeted programmes and interventions.

Deepak Jain, chairman, cii-northern region