4th edition of 'Tata First Dot powered by NEN ' launched nationwide

For the first time this year, the platform has introduced special bootcamps in 5 cities and unique online courses. Top student start-ups from the North, South, East, West and Central regions of India will be invited to bootcamps in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Jaipur, Delhi and Kolkata where they will be mentored and coached to pitch their businesses. The online courses are targeted at all potential and aspiring entrepreneurs, and will help to learn the basics of entrepreneurships through video content. Further, online Mentoring Clinics, both open and video-enabled sessions, are being hosted for entrepreneurs to get guidance from a panel of mentors.

Announcing the initiative,  Atul Agrawal, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Tata Services said, “In line with Tata group’s ethos of pioneering and entrepreneurship, Tata First Dot powered by NEN programme has been providing encouragement to student start-ups and we have been delighted with the encouraging response over the years.  The fourth edition brings new value adds and we are hopeful that once again Tata group’s endeavors through this multi-phase programme will help the country’s young and dynamic student start-ups in taking forward their entrepreneurial journey.”

Dr. Ajay Kela, President & CEO of Wadhwani Foundation said, “Wadhwani Foundation and its flagship initiative National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) have been at the forefront of creating high potential entrepreneurs who in turn create meaningful jobs and companies (averaging 1500 per year now). While we inspire students towards entrepreneurship in our strong network of 600 colleges, the prestigious TATA First Dot programme, powered by NEN, has established a premier platform for student start-ups. I am thankful to the TATA Group for their unstinted support and the launch of the 4th edition of Tata First Dot powered by NEN.”

Regional workshops of the Tata First Dot 2014 for current and aspiring student entrepreneurs have commenced in Chennai and will be conducted in Kanpur, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Baroda, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Patna, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Ranchi, Indore, Nagpur, Trivandrum, Ahmedabad, Pune and Srinagar. The workshops will feature business-modeling, discussions and entrepreneur interaction.

Nominations for the Tata First Dot National Competition for Best Student Start-ups will open on 13th October 2014.

Five winners will be selected by an eminent panel of business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs. Contestants will also participate in the online voting-based student competition, the Tata First Dot People’s Choice Competition. All validated start-up profiles will be posted online for people to vote for their favorite start-up. The five contestants with the maximum validated votes will be declared as People’s Choice winners.

Winners of the competitions will be felicitated at the Tata First Dot National Conference to be held in Bangalore in early 2015. The conference will feature interactive sessions with entrepreneurs while also including opportunities to network and have discussions with business leaders, one on one mentoring sessions, an exhibition of the winning start-ups and simulation games.

Tata First Dot 2013-14 had attracted over 400 entries across multiple sectors including education, manufacturing, IT/software, hospitality/travel, retail, biotech, etc. The entries were received from over 44 cities of India including metros, major cities and smaller towns.