We back entrepreneurs building ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’
COVID-19 exposed critical socio- economic gaps in our country. Now is the time for audacious goals and focused action to build back for balanced inclusive development.
In partnership with Buddha Fellowship Program at SRIJAN, NSRCEL is launching an incubation program that will enhance the entrepreneurship and startup ecosystem of rural India, thereby creating sustainable livelihood and self-employment opportunities.
This program aims to attract, enrich and develop young emerging entrepreneurial talent to solve problems of rural India and real time gaps in supply chain management of corporates using an enterprise approach.
Who is it for?
- Young graduates from leading universities with a passion to solve rural problems
- Corporate sector professionals looking to cross over to development sector
- Development sector professionals
- Early stage entrepreneurs ( both not-for-profit and for-profit )
Eligibility Criteria
- Must have registered and set up an enterprise that works to solve rural problems in agriculture, nutrition, livelihood enhancement, healthcare and education leading to
Creation/enhancement of value chains/ allied value chains, supply chain management etc
- Have been in operation for minimum 1 year with piloted solutions
- Demonstrated proof of concept (POC) in enhancing farmer income/ improved health condition and/ or learning levels in education of rural population/ creating rural jobs/ self- employment opportunities
- Have done rural immersion and clear understanding of underlying root of the problem with clear objective of macro and micro view of business
- Looking at next phase of building, and enterprise/NGO growth

Sector focus

Program Highlights
- Top of the line mentors from industry, academia, development sector, government
- Wide, rich ecosystem and networks of BFP and NSRCEL for strategic business and technological partnerships from IITs, IIMs, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Rapid Rural Community Response to Covid-19 (RCRC), TRIFED, Principal Scientific Advisory
- Milestone linked funding support
- Opportunity to pitch for Incubation
( Upto 1 month of Rural Immersion followed by 9-month incubation, handholding support aided by quarterly entrepreneurship clinics and one to one mentoring, 6 months post incubation support)

Application Process
- Startups can submit their application here
- Applicants will be shortlisted based on the viability of the proposed solution to the problem, current and potential social / financial impact on rural communities
- Shortlisted applicants will be called for next stage

Program Learning Outcomes
- How to stabilise the business including production, marketing and distribution
- How to scale (depth + breadth) and strengthen the business model
- How to build a lead team and financial systems for profitability and sustainability of business
- Learning marketing (B2B, B2C), sourcing, grading and packaging
- How to pitch to investors/financial institutions
- How to work with government to avail subsidy
- Building communication skills
- How to build peer networks
Key Mentors
Development Sector
Ved Arya
Founder and Director, Buddha Fellowship Program
Nagaraja Prakasam
Resident mentor, NSRCEL
D. Narendranath
Executive Director, PRADAN
Apoorva Oza
CEO, Aga Khan Rural Support Program, India

Byomkesh Mishra
Co-Founder, Medha Learning Foundation
Industry
Som Mittal
Former Chairman, NASSCOM
Sushil Ramola
Chairman, B-ABLE
Chitranjan Dar
Former Head, Food Business, ITC
Indranil Gupta
CEO, BrandnewIndia
Gaurang Singh
Senior Associate, Algo Legal

Rajesh Dahiya
Executive Director, Axis Bank Ltd
Government
Shri N N Sinha
Secretary, Rural Development
Rajeev Kapoor
UP Information Commissioner
Pawanexh Kohli
Founding Chief Executive, NCCCD
Academia
Prof. Trilochan Sastry
Decision Sciences -IIM Bangalore
Prof. Gopal Naik
Economics and Social Sciences -IIM Bangalore
Prof. Ankur Sarin
Public Systems Group -IIM Ahmedabad
Prof. Om Damani
Dept. Computer Science and Engineering- IIT Bombay