MBA in IEV

About the Program

The MBA in Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Venture Development (IEV) is a two-year full-time program tailored to prepare candidates for founding innovation-driven enterprises or assuming leadership roles in family-managed businesses. This program is collaboratively offered by Justice K S Hegde Institute of Management and the AIC Nitte Incubation Centre. The program will enable student engagement with all aspects of new enterprise creation, including idea generation and evaluation, business planning, customer discovery, business digitisation, legal dimensions of business and financial planning. The innovative curriculum incorporates customised Executive Development Programs (EDP), Management Development Programs (MDP), classroom coaching and mentoring. Upon completion, students will be awarded a master's degree in Management. Additionally, they will receive incubation support from the AIC Nitte Incubation Centre to aid in the development, growth and sustainability of their start-ups, as well as project funding opportunities.

Program objectives

1. Develop Entrepreneurial and Intrapreneurial Mindset: Cultivate a mindset that embraces creativity, risk taking and exponential thinking, essential for identifying opportunities and overcoming challenges both in new ventures and within existing organizations.
2. Foster Innovation: Encourage students to think outside the box and develop innovative solutions to complex problems. This involves integrating cutting-edge theories with practical applications to drive business growth and transformation.
3. Strategic Planning and Execution: Provide comprehensive training on strategic planning, business model development, and execution of business plans. This includes understanding market dynamics, financial planning, and operational management especially in the context of startups and family businesses.
4. Leadership and Team Building: Enhance leadership skills and the ability to build and manage effective enterprise and teams. Focus on developing interpersonal skills, ethical orientation, and concern towards society and environment.
5. Networking and Collaboration: Create opportunities for students to connect with industry leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and mentors. Facilitate collaboration through group projects and internships.
6. Excellence in Family Business Management: Address the unique dynamics of family-owned businesses, including succession planning, governance, and maintaining family values while pursuing business excellence.

Who can Join?

• Graduates who wish to develop competencies for starting their own innovative enterprise.
• The younger generation of family businesses who wish to take a leadership role in the family business.
• Working professionals at the early stage of their career who wish to start their own venture.
• Entrepreneurs who want to transform their creative business ideas into a successful venture.

Eligibility Criteria

• Bachelor's Degree in any discipline under 10+2+3 or 10+2+4 scheme of any recognized University with minimum of 50% marks in aggregate (including languages) at degree level and a valid score in CAT / XAT / CMAT / ATMA / MAT / GMAT / NUCAT.
• Candidates with experience in start-ups and businesses or who want to take up a leadership role in family-owned enterprises will be given preference.

Program Structure
The course structure is distributed over four semesters, offering two specialization tracks:

• The Family Business Management Track
  The Family Business Management Track is designed for individuals aspiring to take on leadership roles within their family businesses. It emphasizes experiential learning to develop leadership skills specifically for second-generation family enterprises, ensuring competitive and sustainable growth. The track also focuses on establishing governance systems for family-business interfaces and developing growth plans for family business firms, with intensive mentoring from expert panels. Key areas covered in the program include understanding family business dynamics, such as family governance and succession planning and managing conflicts within the family business.
• Start-up Track
  This track is designed for individuals looking to start a new venture or currently managing a start-up. It covers essential aspects of the start-up ecosystem and incubation, including navigating start-up ecosystems, understanding the roles of incubators and accelerators, and leveraging networking and mentorship opportunities. Participants will explore lean start-up methodologies, focusing on developing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), engaging in rapid prototyping and testing, and learning the importance of pivoting and iteration. The program also delves into go-to-market strategies, providing insights on launching a start-up, employing growth hacking techniques, and mastering customer acquisition and retention.

Program Highlights

1. Classroom Teaching: Comprising 40% of the curriculum, this includes core and elective courses that concentrate on creating new enterprises and managing family businesses.
2. Experiential Learning: Encompasses three capstone projects: progressing from an idea to a prototype, refining the prototype into a Proof of Concept (PoC), and finally formulating a fundamental business plan.
3. Professional Practice: Practical courses that offer practical training in management tools, techniques and IT applications relevant to innovation and start-ups.
4. Interdisciplinary Courses: Enable students to expand their knowledge and skills across various fields, enriching their overall educational experience.
5. Action Learning: Internship projects that present real-world challenges and support innovative solutions with funding from the corporate sector.
6. Skill Certifications: Attained through a mix of workshops and participation in ideation and business plan competitions.
7. Venture Establishment and Management: This component is scheduled for the fourth semester, focusing on guiding students through the process of establishing their own ventures with funding support from the incubation centre.

Career Opportunities

• Opportunities to launch a start-up during the study period and work towards its growth.
• Potential to join existing start-ups as co-founders or core team members.
• Prospects to assume leadership roles and make value-added contributions to family businesses.

AIC Nitte Incubation Centre
AIC Nitte is promoted jointly by the Nitte Education Trust and the NITI Aayog under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of the Government of India. AIC Nitte aims to accelerate the entrepreneurial vision of the nation by fostering a start-up ecosystem that converts ideas into successful businesses led by capable and ambitious business leaders. The Centre accomplishes this vision by providing start-ups with valuable expertise and guidance, technological assistance, access to investors, access to markets, networks and industry connections, along with a whole host of other services. What is usually accomplished by a start-up over the course of several years, are now accomplished over the course of a cohort of 11 months at AIC Nitte. Start-ups also receive direction through a robust chain of mentors who impart their sector and domain-specific expertise as real-time practical guidance. AIC Nitte is among a few reputed incubators selected by the Govt. of India to provide seed funding to innovative start-ups under the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme. The Centre has distributed seed funds of up to Rs.200 lakhs to eligible start-ups.