The document discusses establishing a business incubator to support agricultural startups and entrepreneurs. It outlines objectives like understanding needs at different growth phases, identifying resource gaps, and recommending mobilization strategies. Services discussed include access to markets, advice, facilities, and financing. The business incubator aims to help clients manage risk, understand value chains, promote innovation, and design support to accelerate growth and sustainability of agribusiness startups. The final goal is to prepare startups for long-term growth planning and catalyze new entrepreneurs through demonstration effects.

1. Start-Up, Scale-Up and Sustain-Up
through operational Excellence of a
Business Incubator
National Follow-up Program
Dr L K Pandey
Global Food & Agribusiness Advisory,
New Delhi.

2. Preamble
• “Lack of mentorship…everyone craves advice and
mentoring and no one gets it.”
• “Business helping business in a dynamic
environment is what is needed.”
• “Too much training about business from people
who have never done business.”
• “Most agribusiness entrepreneurs need help with marketing,
accessing new markets, networking, branding, and
compliance, along with finance. They commonly stress the
need for a dynamic environment that engenders trust,
courage, fairness, and motivation without bureaucratic
hassles”.

3. Objective
• Understanding the needs of start up companies
• Analysing various needs at different growth phase
• Identifying resource availability and limitations
• Identifying the gap of needs and resource availability
• Recommending resource mobilization from available
sources to the start up company at different stages
• Planning for Financial and human resources required
at different stage of growth
• Long Term business planning for scaling up
• Strong ground work for preparing stable organisation
• Corporate governance with
compliances/transparency

4. Background
• Agricultural development is the foundation for food security and
sustainable economic development in any country, because it is the
major source of income and employment and its key role in the
economy. Operating the business incubator in line with good practice,
including ensuring a strong selection process that identifies and
cultivates innovative, growth-oriented entrepreneurs, and developing
strong partnerships with the public and private sector. No one value
chain represents a sufficient quantity of growth-oriented entrepreneurs
to warrant a focused incubation model.
• There are market opportunities in the areas of branding, certification
and compliance, packaging, recycling, dryer innovation, traceability, and
logistics. Therefore, we should encourage and enable the start-up and
growth of innovative enterprises in these areas. Even existing agro-
processing enterprises need to be accelerated and realize their growth
potential, while leaving room for some start-up support. This is being
done because of the challenging operating environment and the desire
to achieve results quickly.
• Food processing entrepreneurs struggle to understand the opportunities
in both domestic and international markets, distribution options, the
industry standards associated with each target demographic, and the
logistical constraints.

5. Background....contd..
• We strongly feel that its high time to transform Agriculture into Agribusiness to
make it more productive, contributing and sustainable. We must encourage now to
skilled people to take up the challenge of value addition, value creation through
value chain. Any potential business idea need skilled hands to transform into
business.
• The entrepreneurial passion needs money, team, finances and good ecosystem,
favourable business atmosphere, less governance and certainly growing domestic
and global markets. In past few years there is vibrant atmosphere where more and
more entrepreneurs are opting to start business on their ideas. The government
has started various initiatives to support this kind of ambition of its people.
• We however realize that starting a business is not enough and its no big deal but
we have to see the clear pathway to reach to desired destination. The route map
has to be very clear before starting a business journey. Unless our long term
business planning is not clear to the entrepreneur, the failure to success ratio will
remain high.
• With this purpose we suggest to have scale up facility along with start up support
to entrepreneurs. The scale up is equally important with same momentum without
losing its mass and with desired level of resources. The team need to be prepared
the challenges of scaling up and fast growth trajectory.
• The Accelerator can provide support, services, hand holding and networking
needed time to time.

6. What is startup India?
• “Start up India “is a revolutionary scheme that
has been started to help the people who wish
to start their own business.
• These people have ideas and capability, so the
government will give them support to make
sure they can implement their ideas and grow.
• Success of this scheme will eventually make
India, a better economy and a strong.

7. Major issues
• Ideas to Business Ideas
• Vision and Mission
• Job Seekers to Job Creators
• Team Player to Team Creator
• Role and Responsibilities
• Project preparation and Presentation,
• Finance and Financial management
• Market and Marketing
• Start up to Scale up to Sustainability
• Stay or Exit plans

8. Do’s and Don’t
Do’s
• Know your weaknesses
• Be Honest in accepting real
situation
• Share n discuss issues with
selected people around you
• Network and use it
• Ready to fail early and retry early
• Ready to dilute your
shareholdings
• Start early and fail early
• Too much analysis may lead to
paralysis.
Don’t
• Don’t Resist Changes
• Do not spend money on
unnecessary marketing.
• Don’t try and grow faster than
you should
• Don’t increase debt
• Don’t invite bad Blood.
• Try to help your employees to
find new jobs, if you are letting
them go.
• Don’t stay in dark for long
• Dreaming small is a crime

9. Prepare an Entrepreneur to face financial winter..
• Keep personal money personal, do not mix with each
other.
• Have a lifestyle that supports the business choice
made.
• Cut your needs down.
• Be honest with them.
• Do not promise something that you cannot deliver.
• Save some money for emergencies.
• Create capital and assets from day one

10. Preparing a start up to succeed?
• Keep your core intact. No more experiments.
• Be Honest about your financials to your employees.
• If want to fire, fire in one go.
• Plan backwards with regards to financials.
• Always keep eyes on growth.
• Get pessimistic about revenue.
• If business model is right, you can raise money
• Be ready to cater B2B besides B2C model.
• Bring Senior members of your team in an equity model
instead of salary.
• Split Equity does not work
• Assign Role and responsibility
• Building a product with a robust Go-To-Market Strategy

11. Financial Discipline: Key Learning
• Rigorous planning required
• A part of fund is always floating in the market
• Regular cash flow needed
• Initial years inflow will be lower than outflow
• Use your own source- family, friends, financers
• Expects banks only after you have proved
• Certain Collateral Free Financial Schemes
• Business plan with fine details
• Respond to technological advancements.

12. Mentoring Start Ups
• Young Entrepreneurs are high in Motivation but Low in
Experience. Their energy need to be channelized in very
focused area.
• It needs seasoned Mentors and Coaches.
• Quality of mentoring is very important
• Deep understanding of start up Business Life cycle is
necessary
• Ability to improve the investibility of start ups
• Very effective core team with track record of start up
development.
• Guidance needed in Scale up and growth phase phase.
• Only fittest can survive in the highly competitive market
• “ Many a time the mentoring is done by people who have
never been into the business”.

13. Provisional program of activities : Business
Incubator’s Role
• Ideation to Creation (Focus)
• Start Up Phase
• Trainings EDP/MDP/BPD
• Hand Holding, Coaching and Mentoring
• Investors Networking and Meet
• Seed Fund arrangements
• Market survey and analysis
• Scale up preparation and training.
• Awareness about IPR issues, registrations etc
• Compliances
• Networking within and outside the Ecosystem.

14. Services to Clients
• the Accelerator will provide entrepreneurs with a comprehensive service
offering that will facilitate access to markets, advice, finance, and facilities.
It will add value to the offering by providing tailor-made services
addressing the needs of agribusiness SMEs,
• The services revolve around the following:
• Agribusiness market development o Market access and information o
Branding and labelling o Certification and compliance (nutritional analysis
plus) o High-value niche markets Technology o Suitable technology for
post harvesting and processing o Product design and testing o Packaging
technology Finance o Assessing readiness o Seed capital / matching
grants o Finance for growth
• Technical Knowledge
• •Market Research and Intelligence •Business Training •Technical Training
•Industry Seminars
• Advisory Services Networking
• •Advisory and Coaching •Mentors •Value Chain Partner Facilitation
•Networking Events

15. Services.....contd..
• Innovation Acceleration Platform
• •Competitions •Ideation and Prototyping Events •Acceleration Events
•Collaboration Platforms
• Access to Facilities
• •Compliance & Certification •Early Processing Space •Working Space •Product
Showcasing
• Access to Finance
• •Investment Facilitation •Linking to Matching Grants •Connecting to Risk Capital
Funds •Brokerage for Growth Funding
• Management support
• o Infrastructure—office space, product showcasing, and early processing o
Human resources management o Accounting, legal, compliance, and networking
• It will provide support to incubatees in partnership with relevant stakeholders,
avoiding duplication by complementing and levering their services and
addressing service level gaps. It will focus its support services toward expanding
domestic and international market opportunities for companies operating in
value chains with potential.

16. Benefits to Clients
There are a number of critical success factors for an
intervention of this kind:
1) helping clients manage risk;
2) understanding the details of the value chain;
3) maintaining a broader goal of demonstrating
innovative business propositions so as to stimulate
broader sector take-up;
4) adapting the focus and business model of the
incubator;
5) proactively identifying and promoting higher value
market opportunities; and
6) designing

17. Final Project Output
• Preparing start up with consistent planning and execution strategy for
Long term growth plan
• Identifying innovative growth oriented entrepreneurs who are pursuing
business opportunities based on postharvest value addition of agricultural
commodities.
• It will provide these entrepreneurs with a holistic service offering that
accelerates their growth and increases their sustainability.
• In the process of doing so, engaging all stakeholders along the value chain,
thus strengthening the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem
affecting the start-up and growth of innovative agribusiness enterprises.
• It will strive to have a demonstration or catalytic effect, encouraging a new
generation of entrepreneurs to enter, grow, and advance the industry.
Project Beneficiaries
• The direct beneficiaries include high growth potential agribusiness
entrepreneurs and small businesses.
• The indirect beneficiaries are smallholder farmers that supply raw
materials to enterprises and tangential service providers, such as logistical
support providers and packaging services,
• Associated beneficiaries supporting the commercialization of agriculture,
whose clients involved in agro-processing.