Entrepreneurship initiatives

With the aim of inculcating entrepreneurial skills in the minds of students and young innovators, Rajagiri formed a unit of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centre (IEDC) in the campus. The Institution focus on creating an eco-system including incubation centre, Le Cocon, and other associate initiatives for creating and transferring the spirit of entrepreneurship among Rajagiri students.

Incubation Centre.

As part of Entrepreneurship development initiative, RBS took up the task of building an incubation Centre in the Kakkanad campus called LE COCON. This was supported by Kerala Startup Mission, formerly Techno Park-Technology Business Incubator (T-TBI), the designated nodal agency for implementing Kerala Government’s entrepreneurship and innovation related projects in Technology area. Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), promoting nontechnology initiatives also is associated with the formation of LeCocon. The Incubation Centre aims at cultivating innovation and entrepreneurship attitude in the minds of students. The unit envisages a smooth transition of students from the initial stage of idea generation to commercialisation. Rajagiri helps students in setting up their own start-ups while they are studying in college.

The objective of Rajagiri Le Cocon is to organise entrepreneurship awareness camps and training programmesfor helping students in setting up their own startups while they are still studentsat RBS. This provides opportunity for students to interact and learn about the phases of success and failure from entrepreneurs from across different segments while they share their entrepreneurial journey. Students will actively involve in initiatives like boot camps,entrepreneurship summits by TiE Kerala, CII, KMA, Startup Village etc.

Start-ups blooming in the Campus:

Technovia Info Solutions
Bizessence Consultancy Services
Kiwi Ads
True Code Pvt Ltd
Travelngo
Ravix Media

Incubation facility

The centre is divided into three adjacent physical zones to facilitate a smooth transition of students from idea generation to commercialization of ideas.

Zone 1

The zone 1 is a common place for all entrepreneurship aspirants and comprises a seminar hall which will be used for brainstorming, research and analysis, training and gathering. This zone will be used as an idea germination area and a common meeting place. All the aspirants will be meeting here for discussions, debates, activities, learning and planning. This zone will also be an abode for the preliminary phases of starting a business. The semi-formal setting up of the company, its initial operations etc will be facilitated at zone 1. This zone is also equipped with a mini conference hall which can be used for meetings, discussions and review.

Zone 2

Successful ideas germinated in zone 1 and are market-tested will be elevated from zone 1 to zone 2 of the incubation centre after the review by advisory committee. There will be continuous evaluation of the companies from the time of inception in zone 1 and they will be considered for the further graduation only after successfully clearing the review process by Advisory Committee. All business units which are potentially ready in establishing an organisational structure, a strong business model and operation stability will be considered for accommodating in zone 2. The following facilities will be available in zone 2

Own space, air-conditioned
Furniture
LAN/Wifi connectivity

Zone 3

Zone 3 is a facility inside the centre which caters to all the basic requirements to run a start-up company which is reaching close to its graduation. Here the companies will have individual private space for their operations, furniture, closed cubicle, LAN and landline phone connections. A company will be considered by the advisory committee for its elevation from Zone 2 to Zone 3 once the following criteria are met

Reasonably articulated vision, mission, objectives, policies, business model and structure
Continuous improvement and enhanced performance from the time of inception
A tenure of at least 12 months in the incubator.
At least 8 full-time employees on roll
Achievement of minimum 80% goals that are declared in the business plan.
And any other criteria fixed by the Advisory Committee based on their discretion

LECOCON operates as per the IEDC guidelines. A Nodal Officer and Assistant Nodal officers are appointed along with an Executive Committee every year. (Please see Annexure 1 for details of EC).

Entrepreneurship promotion

We encourage students to bring ideas preferably as a team complementing the expertise or on individual basis for start-up. A separate space is earmarked for idea exchange and consultation. Expert coaching by Faculty members is provided for converting the idea into a Business Plan. They are then asked to produce a working example/ prototype for further assessment.

In this context, we conduct a Business Plan Competition, THE PLAN, every year. The plans are first reviewed by internal faculty, then by external experts, and finally presentations are judged by external experts from the Industry.