The winds of change are blowing in Kerala as Inq is all set to build up a novel startup culture in the state. Inq consists of entrepreneurs from Kerala, Bangalore, Tamil Nadu as well as those from Malaysia, Australia and Gulf countries. The first edition of Inq innovation conclave was held in Kochi, Kerala, and it highlighted the idea, ‘global innovation ecosystem’.
‘’We come up with mentoring for the startup world. We reach the global level of startups like global gurus and national level champions who are really working out to help startups to scale. We will also come up with a set of startup funds and capabilities,’’ says Rajesh John, co-founder of the Inq. ‘’It’s an enabler for startups and early stage companies to help them look beyond their own horizons in markets. And of course, they are part of the collaboration that we will inject into this whole ecosystem,’’ says Irfan Malik, co-founder, INQ.
‘’I think one of the thing that needs to be done is to inculcate these elements into university. And to give you an example, in our university, we have the subject of creativity and innovation for the second year students. And then we pass it out to possible investors,’’ says Dr Siva Muthaly, Dean, Asia-Pacific University, Malaysia.
Inq envisages to promote novel possibilities in Kerala and to bring foreign innovations to our land
‘’If you look at some of the world startup ecosystems like those in UK,US or Russia and benchmark it and compare it, Kerala is in the initial stage, in the nascent stage of the startup ecosystem. A lot to come; I believe that is going to culturally change the way how we are going to look at it,’’ Says Lakshmi Narayan, INQ advisor.
At the same time, Inq also focuses on sustainable development
‘’If you have successful enterprises in water sanitation and healthcare sector etc. the public and entrepreneurs can the join the process. And in that way, new kind of startups for sustainable development will come forth. And even some countries are coming up with sustainable development and social entrepreneurship policies,’’ says Vinod Subramaniam, cofounder, Inq.
Inq advisor Scot OBrein feels that India has a great potential for startups
‘’We are going to have 3.5 billion middle class people. And with this, we will be the epicenter of commercial activity. Communication inside India is very well-positioned for this,’’ says Scot OBrein.
KSIDC chairman Dr Christi Fernandez, Kerala Startup Mission CEO Dr. Saji Gopinath, tie Kerala president Rajesh Nair and 100 open startups MD Varadarajan Krishnan took part in the discussions.
