JOIN USVenture for India (VFI), is a not for profit organisation which has launched a programme in collaboration with Columbia Business School, that strives to enhance the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem by training talented Indian graduates to become enterprise builders and job creators and helping high potential companies grow. This is a concept modeled on Venture for America.
College graduates crave hands-on business experience to learn how to develop a business and create value. At the same time many high profile businesses struggle to identify, recruit, and enlist talented students, because they lack the resources and brand equity and scale to engage in on-campus recruiting.
Thus the need for such a programme where the selected 15 students (VFI Fellows) will get a scholarship for a three-week entrepreneurial workshop at Columbia University in New York City, following which they will be guaranteed a two-year job placement. The placement will be in companies with high growth potential in India and the company’s top management will mentor the Fellows.
The aim is that a substantial proportion of VFI Fellows will become successful entrepreneurs, preferably rooted in the communities to which they are assigned. VFI’s purpose is job generation – their immediate goal is to generate new Indian jobs by helping companies expand and training a critical mass of their top graduates to themselves become business builders and job creators.
This will be lead by Dr Jack McGourty, who is the Director of Community and Global Entrepreneurship at the Columbia Business School and a faculty member teaching graduate courses in entrepreneurship, innovation and technology management. In 2009, he launched the federally funded Columbia University-Harlem Small Business Development Center, offering technical assistance to local entrepreneurs and small business owners.
The Venture for India team will be visiting leading graduate and post graduate schools across India starting with Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore , Pune and Kolkata to select 15 students. This unique, not for profit venture (VFI) will provide education, placement, mentorship and finally connect these selected students to Angel Investors/Venture Capitalists so they can get funding for their own venture.
The applicants will go through a thorough screening process and top candidates will be selected for an in-person interview. So students get ready for the VFI team at your campus or you can apply by downloading the application form from the following link: http://www.ventureforindia.org/application.html The programme will commence on May 13, 2013.