Bhubaneswar: ESKEYN Ventures & Indus Capital, a US-based firm, has committed to donate $2 million to the incubation centre of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Sambalpur to promote start-ups and entrepreneurship.
Founder and principal of ESKEYN Ventures & Indus Capital, USA, Sushant Kumar, made this announcement of donating two million dollars for the incubation centre
while addressing the Ninth Foundation Day celebration of the IIM Sambalpur on September 23.
The fund would be released to the IIM in three months after due process, IIM sources said.
In his address, Sushant Kumar shed light on the enormous obstacles that companies must overcome by empathizing with the primary worries that frequently plague them, such as fundraising, loan repayments, and job stability.
IIM Sambalpur signed an MoU India Accelerator to Promote Entrepreneurship Ecosystem, the release issued by IIM said.
Union minister of education, skill development & entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan through a video message praised the alliances and partnerships that IIM Sambalpur has formed with businesses like India Accelerator, SIDBI, and Flipkart, highlighting their importance in fostering entrepreneurs and assisting the livelihoods of local weavers and craftsmen.
CEO, i-HUB Gujarat, Hiranmaya Mahanta, shared a story of Stanford University’s innovative spirit. Stanford got $50,000 from the US State Department’s innovation fund when it was established in 1939, but their strategy for fostering innovation made them a force to be reckoned with.
Director, IIM Sambalpur, Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal said how IIM Sambalpur has carved a niche among the top IIMs.
“In 2019, we created history in top B-schools; in 2019, IIM Sambalpur achieved 50 per cent gender diversity, a milestone followed by all IIMs,” he said.
He also spoke about the trend in increasing the percentage of non-engineering students in the MBA batch in which IIM Sambalpur emerged as a leader in the country.
The director further informed about the three unique projects namely BunkarValleys.com to promote master weavers and artisans, MineralValleys.com
to study the value that mines and minerals are creating for the people of Odisha and DigitalValue.com to promote digital leadership in the country.
Arindam Mukhopadhyay, partner, India Accelerator; Deepak Sharma, co-founder; managing partner, India Accelerator and Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya, founder and CEO, IG Drones were also present.