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About
The Business Idea contest is a platform for startups and entrepreneurs to convert research/prototypes into products and services that add value in the rural areas of Nepal. It empowers entrepreneurs with technology and resources for prototype and business development, mentorship and coaching, industry exposure, access to potential sources of funding and a supportive community to build startups with lasting impact. The Business Idea Contest aims to grow, support and fund startups in the domains of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alternative and Renewable Energy and Health Related Livelihood.
The Business Idea contest is the second phase of IRDP that focuses on providing strategic planning and support to startups that have a significant impact on Agriculture, health, and the energy sector.
NTIC provides a 1-week intensive training & support program, and provides entrepreneurs with access to an extensive network of mentors, entrepreneurs and business professionals for a period of one year or more. After the 1-week intensive training and support program, NTIC supports the incubated businesses to develop the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)/Prototype, business strategy and provide access to finance to be market ready. However, NTIC looks forward to providing continuous support to the incubated businesses even after completion of the program.
Our program is open to everyone who wants to shift the traditional paradigm and bring innovation in everyday lives.
How Does the Application Process Work?
To sign up for a business incubator, you will need to apply and get accepted into an incubator program.
- Apply: Fill out an application form
- Selection for business pitch: Judges will select 10 potential businesses from all the applications for the business pitch
- Business Pitch: Ten businesses will pitch their business idea in front of the judges according to the given parameters
- Receive a decision: Out of the 10 businesses 5 businesses will be selected for the business incubation and mentorship program. The NTIC team will advise the businesses within 2 days after the business pitch. And the selected businesses will go through the business incubation and mentorship process along with 5 lakhs investment for developing and scaling the business
Incubation Framework
Our incubation framework is split in 2 phases:
Phase 1 – Seven days business Incubation Bootcamp
Phase 2 – Mentorship and Coaching for product development and market testing
Phase 1 – Seven days business Incubation Bootcamp
After the careful selection of the 5 business ideas, the entrepreneurs go through a seven days business incubation bootcamp.The learning of the 7 days bootcamp will be divided into 2 stages.
Experiential lab based learning
In this stage, the entrepreneurs will go through two days of intensive experiential lab based learning where they learn entrepreneurial skills and develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Experiential lab-based learning is designed using the double diamond human-centric design thinking using project-based experiential learning. Experiential learning is instilled in such a way that the effect is tangible in retrospect.
Workshop Overview:
The experiential lab-based learning focuses on developing entrepreneurial skills such as:
- Innovation/creativity
- Self-knowledge/self-awareness
- Critical thinking,
- Communication
- Collaboration / Teamwork
- Entrepreneurship Knowledge
- Responsibility
Business development startup bootcamp
In this stage, the entrepreneurs go through an intensive five days business development Startup Bootcamp. In this stage of the Bootcamp the entrepreneurs work on their business model and explore the depth of the problem that they are solving, identify their customers and further enhance their business knowledge. The curriculum of the second stage of the Bootcamp is curated in such a way that it focuses on research and analytics-based decision-making skills targeting the Nepali Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.
Workshop Overview:
- Develop a sustainable and applicable business model
- Understand the customers
- Adopting strategies to grow the business
- Understand the revenue model
Phase 2 – Mentorship and Coaching for product development and market testing
In this phase, we provide mentorship and coaching to the 5 selected 5 businesses for a year. We support the incubated businesses to develop the MVP/Prototype, develop business strategy and access to finance to be market ready. In this phase, the entrepreneurs will go through several business-related training such as conducting primary and secondary research, preparing a business plan, financial projection, managing business cash flow etc. In this stage, they will do in depth research about their product and service, and focus on product development and operational plans. The training will be conducted by industry experts. In this stage, the entrepreneurs will do more in-depth research on their products, sit with their team and prepare a business plan for the coming three to five years, and implement the learnings from the initial boot camp and training sessions to develop an implementation plan for their business.The main objective of this stage is to guide the entrepreneurs to develop a business road map that they can plan and execute in the days to come.
After this phase, the entrepreneurs will be market ready and will have a sustainable plan to follow through in coming years. The one year business mentorship and coaching gives businesses access to change makers and innovators. Businesses will get to interact with industrial experts through a series of workshops, mentoring and networking opportunities. As part of the business mentorship, we will match you with a mentor to best support the business growth and strategy
Eligibility criteria
Who can apply?
- Entrepreneurs/Start-ups may be an individual or group of individuals working towards development of innovative products/ processes/ services
- The founders must be Nepalese citizen
- Entrepreneurs/Start-ups that shows a significant impact in rural development as a core part of their venture
- Entrepreneurs/Start-ups working in the following industries
- Agriculture and Rural Development
- Alternative and Renewable Energy
- Health Related Livelihood
- Entrepreneurs/Start-ups can be a registered company and is in good standing in the state of incorporation
Benefit from the Incubation
- Intense Incubation Program from industry experts and business leaders
- Investment for prototype and business development
- Startup Community
- Corporate Network
- Tailored Mentorship
- Coworking Space for a year
- Industry Events