iB Hubs Startup School is giving wings to student entrepreneurs' dreams

The world over, a new startup idea is born each day. Some find their way to success; others crumble. While there is no set secret sauce recipe for the fruition of an entrepreneurial journey, a startup school programme in India has taken upon itself the task of nurturing the dream of hundreds of student entrepreneurs.

iB Hubs, a Pan-India startup incubator hub, is on a mission to provide end-to-end assistance to startups. With a team of 200 full-time members, including engineers, doctors and management professionals, most of whom are alumni of IITs and IIMs with experience in various MNCs, the organisation is nurturing youngsters into entrepreneurs. 

Says Kavya Dommeti, CEO of iB Hubs, which was launched in November, 2016:

“We are committed to making India one of the global leaders by nurturing startups to build world-class products in advanced technologies that impact the lives of billions.”  

With this goal in mind, iB Hubs launched the iB Hubs Startup School in 2017. The core idea behind the initiative was to equip student entrepreneurs with the essential entrepreneurship mindset and startup skills through intensive learning and rapid experimentation, helping them to successfully navigate the startup world and write their own success stories.

Four-week accelerator programme

“We have successfully completed two years of iB Hubs Startup School programme with six cohorts graduating from Hyderabad and Lucknow altogether,” explains Dommeti, as the third year of their startup school programme begins.

A four-week accelerator programme, the iB Hubs Startup School this year saw a host of aspiring entrepreneurs send in their applications for the 2019 batch. More than 800 applications were received from student entrepreneurs from 200+ universities across 25 states in India. Of these, 20 were shortlisted for the iB Hubs Startup School 2019, scheduled to kickstart in Hyderabad and Lucknow. Adds Dommeti:

“The Hyderabad cohort starts from May 13; the Lucknow cohort from June 13. Each cohort will have four weeks of intensive learning and experimentation.”

Tapping student potential

But why student entrepreneurs? Dommeti says that for students, it is a challenge taking care of the different aspects of starting up “when they are juggling so many things already”. The startups that these students come forward with have huge potential, she explains, and they can accelerate their growth multi-fold when guided in the right way.

“Therefore, we initiated iB Hubs Startup School, with zero-fee and zero-equity only for student entrepreneurs, with a vision to create role models in the student communities, who can take the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship forward.”

So far, iB Hubs Startup School has graduated more than 50 student entrepreneurs, of which at least 28-30 have even seen their ideas take wings in the form of a successful startup. Here’s a look at some of the successful startups that have come out of this programme in the past two years:

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Trashcon

Trashcon addresses the growing demand for waste management and has been awarded the ‘Best Woman Startup of the Year 2018’ by CII. Trashcon has also been awarded a Rs 50 lakh grant by the

government of Karnataka under 'Elevate 100'. 

Namaste Gaon

On a mission to digitise every village and town in India, Namaste Gaon has already implemented their vernacular solution across four towns. The startup has even secured incubation support and office space at Bhamashah Techno Hub, a Rajasthan government-backed facility in Jaipur.

Modulus Housing Solutions

Incubated at IIT Madras, the startup builds cost-effective shelters enabling rapid housing. It has

secured URC Constructions and Vijay Nirman Constructions as clients.

Heaven Solar Energy

Heaven Solar Energy, which models effective engineering designs for solar plants, has secured 50+ business clients so far. This young startup has also secured a funding of Rs 8 lakh from iCreate for product development, and has grown its team size to nine members with offices at two locations in Gujarat.

UniForm Application

A digitised platform that provides hassle-free school admission solutions, the startups has on-boarded 14 schools and preschools, and is planning to expand to other cities from Lucknow and Noida.

Besto Belts

The startup develops superior floatation and tracking devices that prevent people from drowning. Besto Belts got into the prestigious ‘MIT - Innovation & Entrepreneurship Bootcamp 2019’ and also secured top rank at JIIF Ideathon and incubation at JITO Incubation and Innovation Foundation.

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