My Internship Journey At NSRCEL IIM Bangalore

Hello, I’m Shiva Chaitanya, an economics graduate from Jain (Deemed-to-be-University) Bangalore and this is my story. Working for stone walls was always my dream. But I didn’t know how to bag the opportunity, all I know is to get it somehow. And the opportunity has knocked on my door this June. After crossing all the selection process, finally I got shortlisted for the Operations internship.

I’ve always enjoyed managing operations. Taking part in college events, project planning, helped me to hone my management skills, and that translated into my interest to apply for an Operations Internship at NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore. From June to September this year, I interned here at NSRCEL under the Mobility & Fintech Startup Incubation Team. As an aspiring manager, I wanted to experience all the possible spheres of management, including operations, so that I can gain a lot of practical knowledge out of it. I’m glad that I made this decision because it exposed me to new things and allowed me to expand my skills by working on different assignments.

On my first day, the managers welcomed me with open arms. We have discussed the organization’s history, vision and mission and ongoing projects, etc. The induction was like the perfect icing on the cake, as it presented an overall picture of the organization. I was so grateful to have such supporting managers who invested in my growth and believed in my capabilities. The team has always encouraged me during my ups and downs, I deeply appreciate their support. I got to know my team better as we exchanged our stories and experiences.

To all who are wondering as to what is NSRCEL, Startup incubation, and how it is supporting entrepreneurship, I’m giving quick info about it. Here we go, NSRCEL is the startup incubation arm of IIM Bangalore that nurtures early-stage startups, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Startups join here to get mentorship & consulting on Business from professors and industry experts. Not only that, the incubation program also offers seed funding and networking opportunity to the ventures. All startups undergo a pre-incubation phase, where they immerse themselves in learning the first principles of business, from Financials to Branding to Go-To-Market. So far so good? After this phase, shortlisted startups will be advancing to the incubation phase. In this phase, the founders work towards improving their business plans with help of mentors and experts. After this, they will be asked to present their solutions to the board members. At the end of incubation, the ventures will be fully equipped with all the essentials that are instrumental in building a sustainable and profit-making business.

Our team has mainly focused on fintech and mobility incubation operations. The fintech incubation program was supported by ICICI securities (as a part of its CSR initiative) to help fintech entrepreneurs, who are working towards financial inclusion. Likewise, the Mobility program was supported by Maruti Suzuki to support the innovative ideas and solutions in the space of parking management, shared mobility, assistive tech, etc.

We had weekly meetings to review and reflect upon our performance and always ensured the smooth flow of incubation. Everyone was at the peak of their powers, giving their best and working hard every day to support the problem-solvers and change-makers. There was so much knowledge exchange that drove innovation and ideation. I enjoyed being in such a diverse space that welcomed new ideas and solutions. As days went past, the responsibilities increased and I got used to working late nights, making sure to submit the assignments at the earliest time possible. The research and report writing skills that I picked during my college days, helped me immensely here to produce reports and to carry out the research work for NSRCEL.

I had also attended mentor-meet sessions and virtual coffee catchups that the team has conducted for the ventures, wherein I got to know about business models and what pain points they are having, concerning their product or solution. The learning curve was steep and I made the most out of it.

One of the biggest challenges for me was to build a course plan for the upcoming project. I was uncertain if I could pull off the task initially as I had no experience, but with the support of my managers and after having careful discussions, I was able to sail through it. If you put your mind to work, you can gain anything.

Working from home made me more self-driven and independent that allowed me the room to think and ponder over.

As the fintech program was coming to an end, the team had conducted a virtual celebration with the fintech founders, experts, and leaders to appreciate the success of their growth and also recognize the teams’ efforts in upbringing them. There were also experts from across domains who shared their views on the scope of financial technologies, innovation in the finance space, so on and so forth. I liked their ways of bringing everyone together to reflect on their twelve-month incubation journey and share their experiences.

For the upcoming project, the team was in dire need of data to understand the pain points and problems of that particular space and made us do research, survey, data collection. I have connected with around thirteen business founders who have graduated from NSRCEL. Talking to them gave me first-hand experience on the core problems involved in business, the pain points, and how they are standing strong to it despite all the odds. This helped to build my managerial acumen and never-giving-up attitude, no matter how hard it is. It also shaped me to become more effective in communicating the messages.

On the final days of my internship, I was really sad as I didn’t want to leave the team. Although I worked here for three months (Virtually), I got connected with everyone very well and was more like a family rather than a team. Saying goodbye was very hard, I called my managers and thanked them for bestowing me this internship opportunity. I have also sent farewell messages to HR and the team I have worked with. It is important to express gratitude for people who were the key players in this wonderful journey and I will always be thankful for whatever they have showered upon me. It was a fantastic experience to be a part of such a prestigious institution and was a mere pleasure to contribute to the growth and success of the organization.

Once a dream, then a reality, and now a memory. So finally, dreams do come true. All you have to do is keep working hard for it, one day you will get there.

Best wishes :)