Incubation Manager, Catalyst AIC

Position Type: Full-time 

Employer: Catalyst Atal Incubation Center (AIC) – an initiative of LEAD at Krea University

Location: Jaipur

Type: In-office

Reporting to: CEO, Catalyst AIC

About Catalyst Atal Incubation Center (AIC):

The Government of India, through the government think tank NITI Aayog, launched the Atal Innovation Mission in order to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship within the country. Under the aegis of AIM, NITI Aayog has set out to establish Atal Incubation centers across India. The aim of the establishment of these incubators is to nurture innovative start-up businesses in their pursuit of becoming scalable and sustainable enterprises. The AICs would create world-class incubation facilities across various parts of India with suitable physical infrastructure in terms of capital equipment and operating facilities, coupled with the availability of sectoral experts for mentoring the start-ups, business planning support, access to seed capital, industry partners, training and other relevant components required for encouraging innovative start-ups.

As a part of AIM’s larger vision of promoting sector-specific entrepreneurship within the country, IFMR was approved as one of the institutes to set up AIC in Jaipur. The AIC is an extension of pre-existing entrepreneurship activities undertaken by IFMR under ‘Catalyst’.

IFMR Society has set up the Catalyst Atal Incubation Center (AIC) in Jaipur under a grant from the NITI Aayog’s (Government of India) Atal Innovation Mission. The core mandate for the incubator is to support and accelerate innovative startups in the inclusive tech domain who are building digital products and solutions for the last mile, ultimately resulting in enhancements to rural/semi-urban livelihoods. Catalyst AIC is unique in its value proposition – it provides startups with real-world test environments, granular insights on their target segments and the necessary infrastructure to test, iterate and deploy their solutions rapidly. The incubator is part of a vibrant ecosystem and will draw on thought leadership from academics, experts and practitioners, learn more here: www.catalystaic.org.

About the Position:

The Incubation Manager will be assisting the leadership team of the Incubator in management, day-to-day activities and overall coordination at the incubator. The Manager will be based in Jaipur and will closely work with the CEO and leadership team of the incubator. She/he will report directly to the CEO of the incubation centre.

This is a full-time office-based position.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Work with startups in the program according to the frameworks and mechanisms outlined by the Incubator leadership team. Monitor business performance of portfolio start-ups, interface with other stakeholders and provide industry connections;
• Regularly interact and coordinate with internal and external stakeholders to ensure program performance. Look for newer avenues of partnerships and bring the same to the leadership team for further action;
• Work towards overall startup community mobilisation and reach out. Ensure that the program reaches out to relevant ecosystem stakeholders;
• Study key sectors and generate insights, use cases and industry analyses for internal and external usage;
• Manage and support internal and external communication as needed for the program. This will also include maintaining communication with the media as and when required;
• Interact and maintain relationships with portfolio companies, mentors and partners;
• Ensure preparation of necessary portfolio reports for both internal and external purposes;
• Ensure smooth day-to-day overall functioning of the incubator by coordinating with Admin, Marketing, Design, HR and other relevant team members;
• Active participation in events, seminars and workshops for building and sharing sectoral knowledge;
• Ability to represent Catalyst at such events and seminars as and when deemed necessary;
• Ensuring coordination with relevant team members within the organisation for participation across events.

Skills and Qualifications

• A highly motivated individual looking to work for benefitting the semi-urban/rural livelihoods
• Minimum 3 years of experience (preferably 4)of working in startups or with an incubator/accelerator. (Prior experience as a startup founder or with a relevant VC/Angel investment firm is a bonus) or managing entrepreneurship activities in an organisation as a leader;
• Overall understanding of the digital technology landscape and products;
• Strong execution skills – including a focus on data-driven decision making, comfort with ambiguity, and ability to drive rapid “learn & implement” iterations, strong bias for action, and outcomes-based orientation;
• Good overall leadership, networking and communication skills;
• Flexibility to work with asymmetric demands and last-minute changes to programs;
• Fluent in written and spoken English, with the ability to speak in front of an audience when necessary;
• Excellent skills in the entire Microsoft Office Suite (MS Word, Powerpoint, Excel etc.);
• Educational Qualifications: Graduation (background in IT/Computer Science/Finance/Commerce is preferred.

Application Instructions: 

• Deadline: Immediate hiring and applications are being accepted.
• Mail your CV and/or Cover letter to [email protected] with the subject line “CV for Incubation Manager (Website)”

Note: We are an equal-opportunity employer, and all candidates will be considered for employment.However, due to the large volume of applications we receive, we are unable to contact each candidate individually regarding the status of their application. Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for interview purposes.