IIM Lucknow launches MBA in entrepreneurship & innovation

Indian Insitute of Management (IIM), Lucknow, is launching a full-time 16-month MBA programme in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The course will be the first of its kind offered by any IIM and will aim to provide students with the necessary knowledge and skills to become successful entrepreneurs and innovators, the institute states.

The objective is to see at least 40% of graduates passing out of this programme launch a venture that successfully attracts external funding or investment within one year of graduation, it claims.

IIM Lucknow currently has two incubators on its campus: IIML Enterprise Incubation Centre (a section 8 company) and SIDBI Incubator. The students of this programme will leverage the support of our incubated companies, besides the expertise and value that IIM Lucknow’s incubators have created over the years.

“IIM Lucknow has developed an entrepreneurial ecosystem with our two successful incubators. The MBA – E & I programme leverages and strengthen the ecosystem. The programme is unique as we bring in admission and curriculum philosophy that is based on skills development and aims at unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit” Speaking about the first-of-its-kind MBA program from an IIM”, Archana Shukla, Director, IIM Lucknow, said.

The MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation program curriculum is based on a philosophy and pedagogy of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills (50%) and industry inputs, immersion, and mentorship (50%). Multi-disciplinary courses will cover all areas of management and allied fields, with content and materials relevant to start-up ventures, the institute states.

The programme will also offer mentorship opportunities with IIM Lucknow's pool of over 500 entrepreneur alumni and the students will receive guidance in business plan preparation, working with venture capitalists to refine it, obtain funding, and prepare for launch. The programme will provide options for gaining international entrepreneurial experience through visiting partner institutions abroad or working with IIM Lucknow's two incubators or partner incubator.

The IIM Lucknow, established in 1984, is the fourth IIM that was setup in India after IIM Calcutta, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore. In 2005, IIM Lucknow established a satellite campus exclusively for Executive Education at NOIDA in Delhi NCR region.

The new MBA programme will start from August 2023.