Business
US ambassador visits Startup Village, offers support
Kochi, April 18
US Ambassador Richard R. Verma visited the
Startup Village here and interacted with the young entrepreneurs and
officials and offered his country's possible long-term cooperation in
the development of startup ecosystem in India.
Responding
positively to the Startup Village officials' request for facilitating
young entrepreneurs' visit to Silicon Valley in the US, Verma said he
will examine the possibility of supporting a Landing Pad, which is
getting ready in the Silicon Valley in the US.
The Landing Pad is a platform for start-ups from India to get a first-hand knowledge of the Silicon Valley culture.
Verma
was briefed by the village officials of the abundance of talent
available here and also of the challenges faced by startup companies.
Verma
offered to actively support the demand for bringing in the members of
the Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship (PAGE) to the
Startup Village.
Established by the US Department of Commerce,
PAGE is a group of successful American business people eager to share
their knowledge and experience to help develop the next generation of
entrepreneurs at home and abroad.
Terming Verma's visit as a
hugely positive one, senior Kerala bureaucrat P.H. Kurian said the
evolving entrepreneurial culture and the rising number of young business
aspirants in the state need world-class infrastructure, funding
ecosystem and a change in the mindset of the people here.
"While
the state government is extending all possible support for encouraging
entrepreneurship, we hope to address some of these challenges in a more
effective way if we have the support and guidance of investors and
mentors from countries like the US," said Kurian.
The US envoy's visit is part of the Startup Villages' efforts to maintain strong bonds with the Silicon Valley.
"By
building a strong tie-up with the Silicon Valley, Startup Village hopes
to reach out to mentors and angel investors who are willing to invest
in Indian start-ups," said Startup Village chairman Sanjay Vijayakumar.
Startup Village is the country's
first public-private partnership technology business incubator jointly
promoted by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the
government of India, Technopark and MobME Wireless.