KSUM Organises Mentor Conclave Ahead of Huddle Global 2025

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
As a precursor to its flagship annual event Huddle Global, India’s largest seaside startup festival, Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) today organised a Mentor Conclave here to strengthen the mentorship community in the state and enhance the networking between mentors and startups.

In his inaugural address, Anoop Ambika, CEO of KSUM, said, “Conclaves like this are important to showcase Kerala’s talent pool and our advanced startup ecosystem to the world.”

Bhaskar Roy, Head of AI Group Innovations, Tata Sons Ltd, delivered the keynote address at the conclave held at Technopark.

Noting that KSUM has around 366 mentors currently, Anoop said the aim is to have at least 2,000 mentors in its network in the near future.

He also pointed out that technological, financial and marketing mentorship are critical.

“Entrepreneurs should know what kind of technology should be leveraged to build on their product and this is where technological mentorship becomes handy. Similarly, many startups and new entrepreneurs are unaware of the grants available for R&D and other facilities to develop their idea and financial mentors can help them in that aspect,” he said.

In his keynote address, Roy stressed that early testing of product, clear mentorship boundary, constant Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reviewing, and collaborative growth approach are the key factors that could enhance the mentorship experience.

“Early testing of your product and getting first hand customer feedback of your product is important to develop or update your original product,” he said, adding: “Mentors could guide startups to identify KPI’s and interpret data and prioritize experiments that drive meaningful startup progress.”

Both mentors and entrepreneurs should value each other’s time and consider engaging in structured mentorship sessions and also constantly track mentorship impact, Roy noted.

In her special address, Dr Rajasree MS, CEO of TrEST Research Park, said efforts should be made to bridge the gap between academia and industry.

“Rigorous R&D exercise is needed to strengthen the growing deep tech ecosystem, and it is important that our academia and industry work hand in hand to develop high value startups in niche areas like quantum sensing technology,” she added.

In her presentation to show KSUM’s Mentorship Impact, Surya Thankam, Manager, KSUM, said the WE Grow programme for women entrepreneurs has facilitated mentorship for women-led startup, and it has helped the startups scale up.

“Following the mentorship programme, the customer traction of our women-led startups increased by 165% and their average monthly revenue improved by 51%,” she pointed out.

Brajesh Kaimal, co-founder of Experion Technologies and Investor in Malabar Angel Network, was awarded the Outstanding Mentor Award at the inaugural function.

KSUM also introduced virtual badges for mentors. Badges are ranked as diamond, gold and silver for KSUM mentors based on their impact and involvement.

Finalists of WE Pitch programme were also announced and awarded at the event, where various interactive and networking sessions were facilitated.

Vijetha Shastry, Startup Evangelist, BHIVE, and Thomas Kuruvila, Managing Partner, Arthur D. Little Middle East & India, engaged in a session, titled ‘Bridging Boardrooms and Startups: Mentorship that scales from Founders to Nations’.

Sudin Baraokar, AI &Deeptech Advisor, EX SBI Barclays IBM GE; Sidharth Narayanan, Sr VP and Chief Strategy Officer, Invest India; and Juby Jose, Chief Product and Growth Officer, 2nd Careers, shared their views in a panel discussion on ‘The Power of Many: How Collaborative Mentorship Shapes Stronger Startups’. Ejaz Salim, Founder, Grun Agro Ventures Private Limited, moderated the session.

Ashok Kurian Panjikaran, Senior Manager, KSUM, and Adithya SV, Assistant Manager, KSUM, also spoke at the event.