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With India fast emerging as an economy to reckon with, the country’s business minds are abuzz with added incentives to kick-start new ventures. However, aspiring entrepreneurs with great ideas but insufficient business know-how continue to lurk at the brink—despite the opportunities.

Whether you’re a rookie who  yearns to turn your ideas into reality or someone who wants to take your biz to the next level, doing a well-designed entrepreneurship course could be a smart move. It’ll equip you with not just the right management tools, but also an entrepreneurial mindset. Here are some top-notch courses that are worth considering.

1. Indian School of Business (ISB)
Course: Post Graduate Program (PGP) in Management
Location: Hyderabad | Eligibility: Graduate with work experience | Duration: 1 year, full-time | Website: www.isb.edu

Ranked by the Financial Times as one of the Top 20 B-Schools in the world, ISB is among the rare institutes to offer a compulsory course in entrepreneurship in its management program, PGP in Management.

As this comprehensive course is condensed into a single year, it proves to be a cost-effective route to pick up globally relevant entrepreneurial and management skills.

A range of electives on entrepreneurship are offered, so you can select the ones best aligned to what you want to achieve as an entrepreneur. Students are trained in all things entrepreneurial, right from identifying business opportunities to preparing realistic business plans to working out the techno-commercial details of launching an enterprise. Also of benefit to budding entrepreneurs is ISB’s incubation center, K-Hub (short for Knowledge Hub).

An exciting draw to the course is its exchange program with 33 of the world’s top business schools. Excellent infrastructure topped with tie-ups with renowned international business schools (including the London Business School, Kellogg School of Business and the Wharton School) contribute to its vibrant, world-class learning environment.

2. Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI)
Course: PG Diploma in Management – Business Entrepreneurship
Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat | Eligibility: Graduate | Duration: 2 years | Website: www.ediindia.org

Besides graduates who are aspiring to launch their own businesses, this well-designed course is also of great value to family businesses and employees who want to start an ancillary base. The big advantage at EDI is the flexibility it offers to focus on the entrepreneurial aspect of your choice. You could specialize in:

New Enterprise Creation: Consider this specialization if you’re raring to launch your own business. It is also an ideal choice if you want to become a consultant, researcher or trainer for MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises).

Family Business Management: If your family business beckons, you can gain practical insights into managing it with this specialization. It draws heavily on personal experiences and case studies, and is supplemented by videos and readings by guest lecturers.

Agri-Entrepreneurship: Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy, offering aspiring agri-preneurs abundant opportunities. If this is a field you’d like to, well, harvest, opt for this specialization. It will train you in using effective, up-to-date strategies to make the most of this sector.

Services Management: The scope in this increasingly relevant sector is huge. This specialization will guide you in using new management tools, such as developing customer relationships to obtain a competitive edge.

3. S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR)
Course: Start Your Business (SYB) Program | Location: Mumbai | Eligibility: Graduate with a business idea or a newly launched business, NextGen family business owner | Duration: 17 weekends | Website: www.spjimr.org

“We believe there is an unmet need among potential entrepreneurs for learning how to start and grow a business; SYB serves that need,” says Prof. Suresh Rao, Chairperson, Center for Entrepreneurship at SPJIMR. Sure enough, this compact yet comprehensive 17-weekend course (full-days on Saturdays, half-days on Sundays) trains you in manifesting your business idea into a real, scalable business.

SPJIMR is among the Top 10 B-Schools in India, and SYB is the first program of its kind in the country. The batches of students are small (often fewer than 20), so you get individual attention from faculty and visiting experts on developing your startup idea. The emphasis is predominantly on startup management, including developing strategies for growth, managing working capital, marketing and selling your product or service, negotiating effectively and putting together a team. Moreover, if you are toying with multiple business ideas, the faculty helps you identify the most profitable one and guides you in developing your business model.

Throughout the program, the institute arranges for you to network with VCs, mentors and service providers, so you can gain insights and build invaluable contacts from the very onset of your life as an entrepreneur.

4. NSRCEL, IIM-Bangalore
Course: Management Program for Entrepreneurs & Family Businesses (MPEFP)
Location: Bengaluru | Eligibility: Graduate with professional experience | Duration: 1 year | Website: www.nsrcel.org

The N.S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL)—part of the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIMB)—offers a focused training program for entrepreneurs and family business owners by way of the MPEFP. The institute’s founder, N.S. Raghavan, is the former Joint Managing Director of Infosys. This year-long program has been designed to equip you with the management skills required to start and run your own business.

One of the stand-out features of this program is its smart mix of web-based e-learning (including online discussions and webinars) and frequent contact classes in the classroom. In this way, you can work around your time-constraints while planning your study, as there is a significant amount of self-study involved, and still benefit from interacting with professors and fellow students. NSRCEL also boasts of a fully-equipped incubation center to nurture and support newly launched enterprises.

©Entrepreneur January 2011

Tags:
b-school, EDI, Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, IIM-Bangalore, Indian Institute of Management, Indian School of Business, ISB, N.S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, NSRCEL, programs, S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, SPJIMR