Harsh Shah, a third year Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay student is all set to intern in a start-up, an experience he says will enable him to sharpen his entrepreneurship skills. He is one of the 100 students who had registered for “start-up interns”, a platform to create summer internship opportunities for the institute’s third year BTech and dual degree students.
“The work profile of an intern in a big company is usually at a superficial level. On the other hand, profiles in a start-up are more in-depth, so it’s better from the learning point of view,” said Shah.
Nearly two weeks after the initiative was launched by IIT-Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell), 15 students have already been placed.
“Students are very happy that we initiated this event. About 100 students registered. There are 65 openings and so far 15 students have been selected. The interviews are on in full swing and the process will take another three weeks,” said T Manoj, media manager, E-Cell.
The initiative was aimed at fostering entrepreneurship among students. The idea was also to benefit students in this slowdown. Around 30% of the students at the institute are still looking for internships, said Manoj.
Now students like Shah are using the platform as an opportunity to opt for different profiles. A student of metallurgical engineering, he will handle marketing and corporate communications.
“You take decisions as an entrepreneur when you work in a start-up. And since I want to set up my own venture, it’ll help me acquire necessary skill sets,” said Shah.
About 32 companies are participating. The openings are in core engineering, marketing, business strategising, finance and web development.
Rahul Singh, founding member of Ideaforge (start-up), said that the initiative provided a perfect and convenient platform for students and start-ups to connect. “Since a large group could apply, we could evaluate a better set of people than we could have otherwise done,” said Singh.
Pravesh Dudani, director co-founder of GreenHat Ventures (start-up), said that cost is a crucial factor for start-ups. “Instead of hiring people on a long-term basis, we can hire interns for a short period, make them work on challenging projects while giving them the freedom to be innovative.”
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