IIM Vizag partners with a Sri Lankan university to offer a new diploma

On Monday, the Indian Institute of Management, Vizag (IIM-V) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Business Management (NIBM), Sri Lanka to offer a one-year ‘Diploma in Women Entrepreneurship‘. 

NIBM is a Colombo-based, self-financed statutory body under the Government of Sri Lanka. The MOU was signed virtually by IIM-V Director Prof. M Chandrasekhar and the Director-General of NIBM, Dr. DMA Kulasooriya.  

Indian Institute of Management, Visakhapatnam, is already training women entrepreneurs under the Women Startup Programme (WSP). It has created a niche among the premier business schools for empowering and mentoring women entrepreneurs. This programme is being carried out under the mentorship of IIM-Bangalore (IIM-B). As part of the startup programme, IIM-V has incubated 25 women entrepreneurs under the WSP-2018. In its second cohort, 19 women entrepreneurs from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha, are being monitored under the WSP-2020. 

About the Diploma In Women Entrepreneurship

• This diploma course will be offered by IIM Vizag in partnership with NIBM, Sri Lanka
• The one-year program would consist of six months of classwork and a six-month project
• The classes will be conducted virtually for all the women entrepreneurs
• IIM-V will teach four of the five academic modules. The Legal Framework and Practices for Entrepreneurs will be handled by NIBM.
• The six-month project component will be designed by IIM Vizag and will be administered and evaluated jointly by IIM-V and NIBM
• The size of the first batch of this course is expected to be around 50

On the successful completion of the academic modules and the project work, the ‘Diploma in Women Entrepreneurship’ will be awarded. Speaking about the initiative, Prof. Chandrasekhar said, “The key objectives are to foster entrepreneurship and the spirit of creativity and innovation. It will provide the participants with the essential knowledge and skills required for an entrepreneurial journey from idea-generation to idea-implementation.”