Gujarat University rewards Rs 40,000 seed capital and mentorship opportunity to 12 startups

At Empresario 2, organised by Gujarat University Startup and Entrepreneurship Council (GUSEC), 12 startups received seed capital of Rs 40,000 each, from Gujarat Corporate Social Responsibility Authority (GCSRA). The event, which was organised in association with GCSRA, and Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), saw 20 startups from varied sectors and verticals pitching their ideas.

The seed fund will help entrepreneurs to scale up their startups to the next level, file registration, patents and create website.

Rs 40,000 may not sound much in the startup domain but it is very useful for a new startup like ours. We will be using this fund to complete our company registration, make a website and build a prototype," said Jaidev Patel, a research student at physics department of Gujarat University, who runs a startup called Xitiz Technologies.

Planet Earthlings, Chaaipani, San Burn, Aatap Energy and Chaaipani are the other startups that received seed money. Besides the seed money, the startups will also be provided mapping support, mentorship and other hand-handholding support.

Seven other startups were invited for a second round to understand their ideas in detail before they received approval for the seed money.

Last July, over 25 entrepreneurs of Gujarat University expressed their concerns and challenges to Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat University, Dr. MN Patel. The list includes:

• Startup policies and terminologies in India are biased towards the engineering and management students.
• The need of a platform for nurturing the non-technical students.
• Formation of a policy to subsidise the staff salaries of startups.
• Mentorship around the understandability of revenue model to help establish a proper business.
• Creating a network of students who are interested in internships thereby helping startups access a wide range of talent pool.
• Proper academic support from the University to make the environment more entrepreneur-friendly.
• GUSEC must have a mentoring team comprising of the HR, finance, technical and legal to transform an idea into startup.

Considering the startup boom in India, the Vice-Chancellor had proposed an equal partnership between the State government and all universities of Gujarat to develop common policies, frameworks and mechanisms to support and nurture student startups and entrepreneurs.

Gujarat University has initiated GUSEC in the wake of 'Startup lndia, Standup lndia,' Prime Minister Narendra Modi's startup initiative. GUSEC aims to support, nurture and encourage students to start up, innovate and be job creators instead of job seekers. The varsity now plans to build creation centres for student entrepreneurs and implement an entrepreneurship policy for the benefit of the students.

"We are going to implement all necessary processes, systems and facilities required for startups, entrepreneurs and innovators to grow quickly within the university system, and by mapping the initiative of CSR Authority of Gujarat, startups can get some initial funding to quickly grow," said MN Patel, Vice-Chancellor, Gujarat University.

Recently, the Education Minister of Gujarat, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama met 25 vice-chancellors to unleash the potential of ideas from students. He promised that Gujarat will have a unified policy for all universities and a ‘startup day’ to celebrate the startup ideas that attained financial goals.

Industries ministry of Gujarat has developed 'Startup Scheme' where 500 startups were granted a capital of Rs 10 lakh and stipend of Rs 10,000 per month for each entrepreneur for a period of one year.