If you are someone who always wanted to be an entrepreneur but hesitated to make the plunge, read on.
If your business idea concerns anything about food grains, fruits, vegetables, spices and ready-to-cook mixes, you can test the costly equipment before even buying them, thanks to the Technology Business Incubation Centre (TBIC) in Thiruvananthapuram.
Wannabe entrepreneurs are offered all infrastructure to test their ideas before going full steam ahead. The TBIC, situated on the NIIST campus, receives backing from the state agriculture department to prepare a test environment for the entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs can also expect to be mentored by experts in the production of quality items using technologically advanced means and to sustain the venture at lower costs.
The TBIC has already helped several food products entrepreneurs to successfully market items as varied as nutmegs, mushrooms and cut vegetables.
Small-scale enterprises often struggle without support or mentoring in their early days. A particularly tricky situation is the purchase of technical equipment. They are most often forced to make a selection based on the nominal knowledge of the manufacturer.
Most often producers are shocked to learn that the machinery they had just invested in does not suit the products they intend to make. Such a situation leads to higher expenditure and decreased efficiency.
Now entrepreneurs can expect support from institutions such as CSIR National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram and the CSIR Central Food Technological Research Institute in Mysuru.
