ISB sets up body for small businesses
From Rediff.com
BS Regional Bureau in Hyderabad | December 23, 2004 10:13 IST


The Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business has launched a business accelerator initiative called the Knowledge Hub, which will help entrepreneurs in the small and medium enterprise sector take businesses from conception to a commercial stage.

The K-Hub, launched by the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurial Development at ISB in association with the Andhra Pradesh government, was unveiled by Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy on Tuesday evening.

M Rammohan Rao, dean of the Indian School of Business, said, "The hub will provide mentoring and a range of related services that give client enterprises a strong competitive advantage so that they will be well positioned to achieve success."

The hub will primarily act as virtual facility offering business guidance for idea-stage entrepreneurs and growth-entrepreneurs by creating a one-point stop for sourcing support services.

"To start with, the K-Hub will focus on the creation of entrepreneurship in information technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and agro-processing. Apart from directly entertaining business proposals from prospective entrepreneurs, the K-Hub will also welcome referrals from venture capitalists, incubators and R&D centres," Rao said.

The ISB K-Hub will commence activities within the campus as a combined physical and virtual access model with minimal initial investments. The industries department of the state government will provide the running cost of the K-Hub for the first few years.

"The government has also agreed to contribute to the initial corpus of the germination fund. The fund will be utilised to meet project-specific out-of-pocket expenses and project-specific business development service providers' charges," he said.

Delivering the keynote address, N Balasubramanian, chairman and managing director (in-charge), Small Industries Development Bank of India, said that the hub provided the missing link between the academia and industry.

He said the bank had already taken initiatives to help the SME sector grow. "For the development of the sector, Sidbi has created a technology bureau and the Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) Sidbi Venture Fund," he said.

"We are also in the process of forging alliances with more management institutions for helping entrepreneurs in the sector," he added.