Madras Univ to conduct start-up competition for students
The institution further said the ECH focuses on creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem on educational campuses and promoting entrepreneurial initiatives among students
University of Madras
CHENNAI: The University of Madras will be conducting a start-up competition titled "THULIR-2024" for its students to help them pitch in and nurture their exceptional business ideas this year.
With support from the centrally sponsored RUSA (Rashtriya Uchathar Siksha Abhiyaan) scheme, the Entrepreneurship and Career Hub (ECH) of the university, in its notification, said this business plan competition is designed to give student entrepreneurs a real-world experience to fine-tune their business plans and elevator pitches to generate funding to successfully launch their business ventures.
The institution further said the ECH focuses on creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem on educational campuses and promoting entrepreneurial initiatives among students. Accordingly, there would be two rounds of the selection process.
In the first round (elevator pitch), there was a screening of a one-minute video pitch from each team and the submission of a two-page Word document about the business plan.
The elevator pitch should broadly address the problem targeted, how it would be resolved, who all will benefit, and how you will reach the first customer. Any prototype or minimum viable product could also be displayed.
The business plan should include the problem the product or service would be addressing, a marketing plan, current and projected financials, a broad breakdown of the application of funds, and a scaling-up strategy.
Twenty shortlisted teams would make the final presentation before a panel of judges in the second round. Accordingly, the "THULIR 2024" competition will be evaluated by an eminent jury, and teams will be shortlisted for the final presentation.
The guidelines of the competition said any number of business plans could be submitted from a department, provided that the teams have no common members. Each team should have at least two members and a maximum of five, besides having a faculty mentor from the university for each group.
The deadline for online registration for students will be March 30. With the final results to be declared on April 19, more than ten lakhs are to be disbursed as seed funding to the winning teams.
