RTBI is one of the few incubators using ICT as an enabling tool for entrepreneurial, socially-driven business development in the rural space. We focus on these sectors: agriculture, financial inclusion, vocational training, health, education and affordable technological solutions appropriate to rural needs.
RTBI provides support in rural programming, technology development and business incubation for its incubatees in the form of:
Finance
- Seed capital
- Equity financing
- Linkages to other internal/external financiers
- RTBI surrounds you with incredibly proven mentors. Startups get great advice on their vision, products and strategy, ensuring the best possible start towards success.
- Startups have unfettered access to top-notch resources (including seasoned entrepreneurs and investors)
- RTBI is currently housed within IIT-Madras, so world-class technologists and academicians are mere footsteps away
- Air-conditioned office space, along with uninterrupted network access, electricity and water supply are provided
RTBI is not an IIT Alumni-only Incubator, and is open to all qualified candidates. Candidates with a keen entrepreneurial spirit who are interested in technological innovations and applications are encouraged to apply online or walk-in.
We specifically look for candidates with a:
- commitment to social enterprise and development
- willingness to work with technology
- thirst to make a difference in the making of India a better place to live in
Applicants are also encouraged to join RTBI on Facebook or follow RTBI on Twitter
The Selection Process
The selection process is carried out in the following steps:
The RTBI Core Team meets with the candidate, and provides an overview as to the focus of RTBI and how the candidate could potentially fit in. The candidate then meets with current incubatees with RTBI to gain a better understanding of the environment. After an initial screening of the potential candidate by the Admin Council, the Chairman conducts a face-to-face interview. The Incubation Committee of RTBI is involved in the finalization process of selection of these candidates for incubation. The decision is based on the strength of the business plan and face-to-face interactions with the candidate regarding commitment and alignment to RTBI’s rural development initiatives. Finally, the Incubatee-Incubator relationship is formalized in the form of an MOU.
The Incubation Process
A startup at RTBI goes through 3 phases, once inducted: the Exploratory Phase, the Venture-in-the-Making Phase and the Startup Phase. In all the three phases of incubation, it is the leadership at RTBI that supports individual entrepreneurs to not only explore their innovations but also prove the commercial viability of their product or service. The average time since the first contact to induction of an entrepreneur (on meeting all the requirements) ranges from a month to two months. The total incubation period for an entrepreneur is typically 18-24 months.
Exploratory Phase While demographics and raw statistics state that the Rural market is quite large and is untapped, there is a lot of gap in the knowledge and understanding in terms of understanding needs, demands, affordability and the local dynamics which can play a major role in building or breaking a business. For entrepreneurs who show a strong commitment towards building rural-centric businesses, posess deep domain knowledge in some vertical but need to understand the market, the dynamics and have a better understanding of how their future customers currently address their pain points, the exploratory phase is their point of induction. At the end of the Exploratory phase, the entrepreneur has a market-validated concept note which briefs the service/product to be built, and the potential user base they can target.
Venture-in-the-Making Phase A pilot is initiated for validation of the business model and for testing the prototype. The decision to incubate the candidate is taken by the Incubation Committee on the basis of the proof of concept as well as upon the candidates’ commitment and alignment to RTBI's mission. The Incubatee-Incubator relationship is formalized in the form of an MOU and seed funding is provided to the newly formed company, which now moves on to the next phase. While pilots are innately designed to be successful, the next step is to look at various processes of the organization to build them for scalability and for ways to leverage technology to improve their current processes and to get a visibility to enhance profitability margins in the future.
Early Stage Venture Phase With the market opportunity identified, the pilot run and the learning documented, and with a team and corporate identity being formed, the key at this point is to merge all of that info into a realistic business plan, with the components of scalability. This is where institutional funding is looked at to grow the company, core team strengthened, a board of advisors and directors setup to govern the company – with strong linkages established with potential partners for the long run.
RTBI stays involved with the company with monthly review meetings and continued support till the board becomes active and starts to steer the company.