NICEorg and Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) embarked on a partnership in the month of February 2023 to provide an immersive entrepreneurship experience for students associated with INTACH in the field of Cultural & Heritage Entrepreneurship. The 11-day program spread over two months aimed at providing students from varied backgrounds:
– An insight into what the Cultural Entrepreneurship space entailed,
– Access to curated sessions by speakers in the Cultural Entrepreneurship space on various business modules necessary for a student intending to begin their entrepreneurial journey
– Participate in a pitch day session and present their entrepreneurial thoughts to an external jury.
This was the first time that INTACH entered into a collaboration with an external entity to undertake an initiative completely focused on Cultural Entrepreneurship. The cohort had students who are currently pursuing various courses at INTACH and 3 alumni who also were part of the cohort.
NICEorg designed the program taking into account the background of students and familiarity with concepts of Entrepreneurship. The sessions were conducted by speakers with experience in the field of Cultural Entrepreneurship that resulted in sharing of real-life situations and thereby making the sessions very participative in nature.
The first session of the program was on the 13th of February, 2023 with an introduction to what Entrepreneurship was all about and what an Entrepreneurial mindset includes. The program concluded on 11th of April 2023 – pitch day with every student presenting their entrepreneurial idea in a 5-minute pitch format.
With almost no exposure in the field of Entrepreneurship to building an idea and effectively communicating it in a span of 5 minutes, the students indeed traversed a great deal in this 11-day program.
The sessions included but were not limited to topics on Business Plans, Sales and Marketing, Digital Marketing, People Management, Partnerships & Collaboration, Finance by the following speakers:
The final pitch day was evaluated by Ajeeth Jagannath and Vivek Thaper who provided very valuable feedback to the students that would help build on their ideas further.
Speaking about this initiative; Dr Parul Munjal, Director of INTACH Heritage Academy said “Through this program in collaboration with NICEorg, INTACH Heritage Academy has actively taken forward its intention of nurturing ‘heritage entrepreneurs’. This has created a much-needed platform that is readily accessible to people who are passionate about heritage and are trying to find ways to channelize this passion in a constructive manner”.
Kanchana KV, COO of NICEorg who curated and oversaw the program on behalf of NICEorg added “This collaboration with INTACH has opened avenues for students to conceptualize and grow their Entrepreneurial ideas through a structured program with expert insights and guidance. The participation and feedback of students have been very encouraging and we look forward to growing this program with INTACH. We would like to thank Dr Parul, Ms Smita Babar and the larger INTACH team for their support and engagement. We would also like to thank our expert speakers and mentors for their immense contribution in ensuring the success of the program”.
Sneha Subbaroyan, a student pursuing her INTACH Certificate in Heritage Studies said, “The program helped me think of my business idea based on facts and provided an insight into an approach that can help monetize the business in the field of Indian Culture and Heritage to make it sustainable and not compromise on its values. It was also a platform where we got feedback and inputs from experts with decades of experience in entrepreneurship which was also very motivating. The course was well designed for those beginning their entrepreneurial journey”.
Vaibhav Maini, another participant added, “The course helped transform my knowledge & understanding towards heritage into a business idea. The mentors from NICEorg & INTACH supported in framing a holistic plan that will further restore the value of heritage and convert my idea into a revenue model”.
NICEorg and INTACH will work towards growing this further and curating similar initiatives that will aid in growing the agenda of Cultural Entrepreneurship in the country.
