First startup set up at Kollam college

Chief minister Oommen Chandy on Thursday inaugurated Kerala's first startup, Bootcamp, coinciding with the World Entrepreneurship Day.

Bootcamps, set up at TKM College of Engineering - Kollam, aim to create a grassroots level student network to promote entrepreneurship and to familiarise them with the process of running a company.

Through the initiative, the college aims to encourage students to become innovators and job creators, and support young people with entrepreneurial skills.

Chief minister Oommen Chandy, who inaugurated the camp, offered support from the government for its functioning. The state government has earmarked Rs 4 crore for the Bootcamp programme this year.

"The Startup Bootcamps will help students give shape to their dreams and improve industry exposure," Kochi Startup Village chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar said after officially launching the programme. "More such will be set up in engineering colleges and other institutions in the state in the run-up to Youth Entrepreneurship Summit on September 12," he added.

Under this initiative of the state government, colleges can form Entrepreneurship Development Clubs (EDC), which will be established as not-for-profit societies and will be run entirely by college students on the lines of similar societies functioning at Stanford or Harvard.

The clubs will promote and coordinate entrepreneurial activities in respective colleges with support from nodal incubators-- Startup Village and Technopark TBI.