Young minds always have the fire and zeal within them to innovate and explore. Today’s youth in India come up with the brightest of ideas and unique solutions and problem-solving strategies that have immense potential of turning into successful start-ups. Being young does not inhibit your creativity and business skills, in fact if you are passionate about something, starting young won’t be an issue. If you are a teen entrepreneur and feel like the ideas and products in your mind could be turned into reality, do not let age be a hurdle. India has several Entrepreneurship Cells across different colleges that might incubate your start-up. These cells help you explore, innovate, ideate and find financial backers for your product. The best place to start is Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) who may give you the required push towards success:
E-Cell, IIT Bombay
A student organisation, The Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT Bombay encourages students to taper the entrepreneurial spirit within them. E-cell, IIT Bombay organizes annual business plan competitions like Eureka! and their flagship event, The Entrepreneurship Summit (E-Summit) to select best startup ideas and incubate them. Nearly 7000 startups have participated in these events connecting 250,000+ students and 100,000+ professionals. Through their initiative, National Entrepreneurship Challenge, they help colleges across India to establish their own E-Cell. Members meet, discuss and debate ideas with experts, brainstorm and engage in several activities throughout the year.
E-Cell, IIT Kharagpur
Established in 2006, Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Kharagpur (E-Cell) is a non-profit student’s organization which promotes the spirit of entrepreneurship among students throughout India. Their flagship event, Global Entrepreneur Summit (GES) gives an opportunity for entrepreneurial minds from across the world to meet to seek inspiration from old ideas and develop new ones. They conduct several Guest Lectures, Workshops, Panel Discussions, Product Expo, Connect the Dots conference and a Global Entrepreneurship Conference. Kharagpur also conducts Empresario, India’s first business model competition in association with International Business Model Competition providing a platform for students to interact with experts and pitch their ideas to capitalists, angel investors and enterprise leaders.
E-Cell, IIT Madras
The Entrepreneurship Cell of IIT-Madras is yet another organisation that pushes young entrepreneurs to reach their goals. Their flagship event, E-summit is one of the highly celebrated Entrepreneurship fests across India. Their Startup Series initiative is an exclusive 45 day program for teenagers to enter with an idea and leave with the skills to convert their idea into a venture. They conduct workshops and mentoring sessions and provide practical learning from the workshops via different tasks.
It may often seem like the entrepreneurial world out there is scary and your idea may not succeed. Do not lose faith in yourself or your idea, your idea could be the next big thing that disrupts the market, you never know!
