Entrepreneurship

It is well understood that entrepreneurship is the key to a vibrant, high-growth economy. With a growing economy and an increasing youth population, entrepreneurs will be the key drivers for meeting the needs of Industry and of the youth in India.

National Entrepreneurship
Network (NEN):

www.nenonline.org

The not-for-profit NEN was launched in 2003 by the Wadhwani Foundation, and cofounded by IIT Bombay, IIM Ahmedabad, BITS-Pilani, SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai, and the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology, Bangalore.

Today, over 500 top-tier academic institutes are members of NEN and have entrepreneurship as part of their educational programs. The Foundation has trained 1,200 faculty members at NEN member institutes to teach entrepreneurship. NEN has created a large body of peer-reviewed teaching materials, including entrepreneurship course curricula and content for common use by all NEN members, and runs leadership programs for students of E Cells - the campus entrepreneurship clubs.

Leveraging the resources and programs of the NEN Trust, NEN’s Community Leaders - the NEN Faculty, E Cell Leaders, and E Club Leaders - each year run thousands of programs that create and support entrepreneurship. Over 100,000 students - members of NEW E Cells at their campuses, are now actively engaged in entrepreneurship programs, most of whom have declared their intent to start companies in the very near future.

To support the many graduates, NEN has launched the NEN E Clubs - an NEN Alumni initiative - and is rapidly scaling up the NEN Mentoring Platform which draws on NEN’s volunteer base of over 1500 successful entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and specialists to help new entrepreneurs realise their dreams.

The NEN has now entered into a public-private partnership with the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

Impact

When NEN started, there were perhaps 30 faculty members in India teaching high-growth entrepreneurship, and only two student clubs on campuses, with approximately 200 student members. Since its founding in 2003, NEN has

  • launched and supported more than 350 entrepreneurs
  • developed a pipeline of future entrepreneurs
  • proved that academic institutes in India can both create and support entrepreneurs
  • entered into a public-private partnership with the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India
  • created demand for entrepreneurship education at scale,as demonstrated by membership growth:
      2003 2009
    NEN
    Member
    Institutes    		 5
    (Co-Founders)    		 512
    NEN
    E CElls    		 2 380
    NEN
    Faculty    		 30 1180
    NEN
    Member
    Students    		 200 70,000
  • Creates India's Largest entrepreneurial online community, with 2,50,000 registered members on
    www.nenonline.org

Entrepreneurship Week India (E Week India)

For one week each year hundreds of thousands of people across the country come together to celebrate Entrepreneurship Week India. Designed to build public awareness and support for entrepreneurship, E Week India focuses public attention on today's biggest opportunities and encourages participants to reflect on their role as leaders and innovators.

The unique, weeklong campaign is fully supported by the Wadhwani Foundation and run by the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN). E Week's activities are led by more than 500 NEN member academic institutes and 400 plus NEN student entrepreneurship clubs (E Cells).

E Week is an open platform that reaches far beyond the NEN Community, bringing together and actively involving more than 30 organizations that support entrepreneurship: corporate entities, industry captains, experts, non-profits and faculty leaders to inspire, encourage, and support entrepreneurship.

By far the largest entrepreneurship activity in Asia, E Week's dramatic results over the years - building support for entrepreneurs - is encouraging ever more participants. In 2010, more than 6, 00,000 participants engaged in over 4,500 activities run by the NEN Community and the E Week Partners.

More information, along with some great images, can be found at www.eweekindia.org

Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship
Development (WCED) at the Indian
School of Business (ISB)

In a separate initiative, the Wadhwani Foundation has funded the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (WCED) at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.

The Indian School of Business is a research-oriented independent management institution that grooms future leaders for India and the world. Its association with the Kellogg School of Management, The Wharton School, and London Business School make it one of its kind in Asia. It is among the few schools in the world that undertakes research with a focus on emerging and transition economies, striving to create synergies between India, Asia, and the global business environment.

The ISB spearheads its objective to nurture the spirit and culture of entrepreneurship in India through the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (WCED).
As a Centre of Excellence at the ISB, the WCED directs its energy and resources towards creating an effective entrepreneurial ecosystem that enables entrepreneurs to be an integral part of the global economy. The efforts focus on capacity building through partnerships with the Government, industry bodies, entrepreneurs, institutions, faculty as well as alumni. The WCED also has academic course offerings that lay the foundation skills for cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset among all students. WCED faculty are renowned academicians from some of the best schools in the world and are often supported by successful entrepreneurs.
Visit the ISB-Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development to know more about its activities.