What do graduates and post-graduates who want to start their own business after their education lack in ? They have the innovative ideas, they manage to raise the necessary funds for their start-up, and they are also armed with the strong desire to make it big. But what is essentially missing in all this is the mentoring.

Startup Payanam is one such initiative that lends a helping hand to budding entrepreneurs. This initiative is the brainchild of Headstart Network Foundation, a company that was founded in 2008, to facilitate entrepreneurial learning, hiring, marketing insights and peer mentoring among the start-ups and addresses their issues through its various initiatives.

About a month ago, Headstart Network Foundation invited applications from aspiring entrepreneurs to participate in their journey called Startup Payanam. Close to 100 aspiring entrepreneurs registered for the Startup Payanam.

As a part of this tour, aspiring entrepreneurs will experience the real world of start-ups. The one-day tour was flagged off on Saturday morning and as part of the tour participants will visit seven start-ups. Participants included student entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of start-ups.

“The intention of Startup Payanam is to give them the experience of the real world of start-ups. The challenges, strategies, problem solving and experience that the real entrepreneurs go through will be experienced by the aspiring entrepreneurs. This is an honest effort by the start-up community to inspire and educate aspiring entrepreneurs for the overall benefit of the ecosystem,” Ebin Ephrem Elavathingal, Headstart Network Foundation, said.

This exciting journey was flagged off by Balaji Raju, Managing Director, AES Technologies, and Managing Editor, Covai Post. Flagging off the Payanam, he said: “In the mighty ocean you must be like fish. Explore the waters as much as you possibly can and don’t be afraid to face the challenges that the ocean throws you.”