OREANDA-NEWS. September 26, 2011. Tata First Dot, powered by the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN), will kick off with a series of  workshops in 10 cities across the country 

Workshops will be held from September 24 to October 18, 2011

Mumbai: In continuation to their commitment to entrepreneurial growth and innovation, the Tata group, today, announced its partnership with the non-profit organisation National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) for the launch of Tata First Dot, powered by NEN, an initiative designed to support India’s youngest entrepreneurs and inspire the next generation and thus help in fuelling India’s economic growth. Tata First Dot will kick off with a series of workshops from September 24, 2011, in 10 cities with the first session in Kolkata followed by Pune, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Indore and Mumbai. These workshops are designed to help student entrepreneurs refine their business models, connect with peers and interact with experts.

Over the past years, a new trend has emerged – young people, especially at institutes that support entrepreneurship, are no longer waiting until their graduation to start companies. These student entrepreneurs have emerged across the country, and their startups range from providing hand-decorated clothing to IT and mobile services and event management. While the companies are diverse, these young people share a common trait, their willingness to step into the unknown to build value.

Tata First Dot is a unique and innovative platform for the student entrepreneurs to access more knowledge, networks, resources and recognition for their businesses and the first of its kind which is focused on creating an environment to support student entrepreneurship. This is in sync with the Tata group’s commitment to foster an entrepreneurial culture and innovation amongst the young generation. First Dot was originally conceived by NEN and NEN E Cells (student entrepreneurship clubs). The pilot project was introduced in Chennai in 2010 to support young entrepreneurs, coach them to shape and update their ideas to the future trends and to inspire the next generation of budding entrepreneurs to follow their lead.

Tata First Dot, powered by NEN, comprises five components which entail:

Workshops designed to define, develop and shape their business models

A nationally judged competition

An online ’people’s choice’ competition

A two-day conference with mentoring, exhibitions and conferencing, including an award ceremony

Ongoing mentoring and networking support for competition winners

Atul Agrawal, vice president, corporate affairs, Tata Services, said, “We are delighted to be launching this new programme in partnership with NEN. The time is right to support these young entrepreneurs, and we are happy to be helping through this initiative in the formative period of their entrepreneurial journey.”

Laura Parkin, CEO of NEN, said, “We are very pleased to be associated with the Tata group to nurture and promote student entrepreneurs. Over the past years, there has been an increase amongst the young populace to venture into entrepreneurial careers. Tata First Dot will fill many of the gaps with right support, advice and access to resources to develop their companies. We are looking forward to achieve a victorious debut from this distinguished programme.”

On September 24, 2011, nominations will also open for the second component of the programme, the Tata First Dot National Competition for the Best Student Startup. Five winners will be selected by an eminent panel of business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs. Contestants will also participate in the first-ever voting-based student venture competition, the Tata First Dot People’s Choice Competition. All validated startups will have information posted online, and everyone will be invited to vote for their favourite startups. The five contestants with the most votes win.

Winners of the competition will be felicitated in an award ceremony at the Tata First Dot Conference to be held in Chennai on January 6 and 7, 2012. The conference will feature talks by entrepreneurs, discussions on topics such as social entrepreneurship including opportunities to discuss with the business leaders present, 1:1 mentoring sessions, an exhibition of the winning startups, games, music and networking.