Telangana to set up T Hub to boost entrepreneurship

In a bid to nurture and support entrepreneurial abilities, the Telangana government is planning to set up a technology and business incubation centre called T Hub in Hyderabad.

The fact that most of the businesses and industries in Hyderabad as well as in other parts of the undivided AP were created by the entrepreneurial class from the coastal Andhra region is weighing on Telangana government's thinking. T Hub is a step in the direction of correcting this imbalance that also contributed to the regional divide in the undivided AP.

Information technology minister K T Ramarao announced the details of this new initiative on Saturday. Taking part in a technology entrepreneurship programme organised by the Indian School of Business(ISB) for select students of top 15 engineering colleges from the two states, the minister said the start-up event being hosted by the ISB next month will be a precursor to this and many other entrepreneurship building activities contemplated by the government.

The T Hub will come up initially in the existing IIIT campus in an 8,000 sft of space with an intake capacity for 1,000 potential amateurs. Later, it will be moved to an own facility having a built-up space of 300,000 sft - enough to train and provide incubation facilities for 3,000 people at a time - in two years from now, according to Rama Rao.

The entrepreneurship building exercise will be accompanied by another new initiative aiming at making students of Telangana readily employable. A dedicated institution called TASK (Telangana Academy of Skills and Knowledge) will also be set up to improve their employability, he said.

He said the government would involve industries in this initiative by tapping the resources available under their corporate social responsibility (CSR) obligations.

ISB dean Ajit Rangnekar and member secretary of National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board HK Mittal welcomed the government's plans on encouraging startups through incubation and training.