Kerala launches mission to rope in business leaders for supporting startups

The state is working closely with the CII and TiE for providing mentoring to young innovators

The Kerala government has launched a mission to bring successful state-based industries onboard to create a conducive ecosystem for supporting young entrepreneurs.

Chief minister Oommen Chandy, industries and IT minister P K Kunhalikutty, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) managing director Aruna Sundararajan and industries and IT principal secretary PH Kurian held discussions with industry leaders in this regard at an interactive session organised by Kerala IT in association with Technopark-Technology Business Incubator (TBI) and Startup Village here.

As many as 78 successful entrepreneurs from leading business houses participated in the session, which was a launching pad for the mission that would chalk out a detailed strategy to make the state a top destination for entrepreneurship.

"Time has arrived for us to act and we are in a transformation mode," said Chandy. "The student entrepreneurship policy of the government started showing results and there has been great vigour and enthusiasm among the young to become entrepreneurs," he added.

Calling for the support of industries in Kerala to encourage young entrepreneurs, he said the government was committed to extend full help to startups and the expertise of the established entrepreneurs was a pre-requisite for it.

Kunhalikkutty said the state should be able to tap the potential of the youngsters only with the help of business leaders. The industry should join hands with the government to shape the future entrepreneurs. "We would like to see innovations taking place in traditional industries also," the minister said.

Sundararajan said the state should transform into a place of job creators and not job-seekers.

KSIDC is starting 50 incubators across the state for supporting business and technology startups.

It is working closely with the CII and TiE for providing mentoring to young innovators. Also, KSIDC will launch a venture capital fund of Rs 20-crore in the upcoming Young Entrepreneurs Summit for supporting the startups.

The Rs 150 crore-Technology Innovation Zone project by T-TBI at Kalamassery here was progressing well and once completed, it will symbolise the Silicon Valley of India, he said. Works will be completed in 2-3 years and the new building will be able to accommodate 1,000 startups.