God’s own country has never been the best of the places to start a business. India’s most socially developed state has always been a laggard when it comes to industrial growth. Lack of infrastructure, militant trade unions & hartals at the drop of a hat are some of the reasons attributed to this sad state of things. As a result, Kerala’s economy has to depend upon tourism & remittances from non-resident keralites to stay afloat. However, things are changing for the better & TBIC the in-house incubator of Technopark Trivandrum is in the forefront of this change.
Established in 2006, TBI has evolved as a premier institution that fosters entrepreneurship . Any person who has a desire to start a technology-based venture can approach the TBIC for membership . All he has to do is to submit his business plan with the online application at TBI’s website. This is followed by a presentation of the business plan to the expert committee at TBI.
Once the expert committee is convinced about the viability of the venture membership is granted & an 11 month incubation period starts. During the incubation period, TBI provides the entrepreneur with seed capital assistance, infrastructure support, consulting services, marketing assistance, research assistance & literally everything a novice entrepreneur needs to transform his idea into a successful venture.
Over the past seven years, TBIC has incubated over 192 companies with 114 companies going through the process of incubation at present. Around 68 companies have successfully graduated from the incubation center with just four companies dropping out so far. The incubatee companies have brought in a total investment of 134 crores, generated 4500 direct jobs & have contributed around 44 crores to the exchequer. The incubatee companies have also bagged 30national & international awards that includes DST Lockheed Martin India Innovation award, NASSCOM innovation award, DELL Idea League challenge & the ISBA national award.
The TBI itself won the national award for the best TBI for the year 2007 & AABI Award for BEST TBI in Asia Pacific region in 2012. Instead of resting on its laurels TBI has gone a step ahead & started an innovation center that in its words is “to Promote Innovations in Individuals, Start-ups and MSMEs”. The, innovation center has so far funded 39 projects to the tune of 31.5 million rupees. It also has 4 technology transfers, 24 patents & 20 commercialized technologies under its belt. The she toilets, digitally controlled 3D billboard &a Low Cost Integrated Biochip System for Cancer Screening are some of the prominent innovations from its stable.
The state that was once a wrong place to become a businessperson is slowly transforming itself as a haven for entrepreneurs & innovators. Cheers TBIC.
