CARMa Shala™ Certificate Course in Entrepreneurship
20 hours and Rs. 2,650 is all it takes to become an entrepreneur now!
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Most people don’t become entrepreneurs in India, simply because they don’t know how. There is no course that tells you in simple and easy steps the things you need to get the idea off the drawing board into the market place.
There is no course in India which is India-centric, real-time and fitted within in the Indian framework. So what’s the point in knowing how to incorporate a company in America, when you want to set up shop in India?
And that’s where CARMa Shala comes into the picture. CARMa Shala is a 20-hour, 20-module online certificate course in Entrepreneurship. It is a go-to course, like a dictionary. If you want to become an entrepreneur, or, if you are in the start-up phase, CARMa Shala tells you in easy, simple, 20 steps, what are the things you need to do from the time you decide to become an entrepreneur to becoming market-ready.
Get CARMa Shala through your college!
For an individual registration, CARMa Shala costs just Rs. 2,650 (which includes a copy of Prof. Nandini Vaidyanathan’sbest-selling book Entrepedia).
If you get us bulk registrations, the price comes down to (per registration):
Step 1: Why do you want to become an entrepreneur?
In the first module of CARMa Shala, we talk about the first step in your entrepreneurial journey – understanding why you want to become an entrepreneur. Here we explore the many reasons people use to become entrepreneurs – right or wrong! We also discuss the excuses people use to notbecome entrepreneurs. By the end of this module, we are hopeful that you have understood that the best and only reason to become an entrepreneur is to create meaning in society and transform lives.
Step 2: How do you convince yourself and others in your ecosystem?
After convincing yourself of your decision to become an entrepreneur comes the next step, and the harder step – to convince people around you, in your ecosystem, of your decision. To show them that your decision to become an entrepreneur is the right one!
We have brought in three entrepreneurs – from different domains and different phases in their business – to share and discuss this challenge. They will share with you how to avoid getting bogged down by the fear of failure and how you should be prepared to face the brickbats just the way you were prepared for the accolades.
We shatter the biggest myth – that there is this wonderful depository called an Idea Bank and that you can make withdrawals as and when you feel like! 10 entrepreneurs – some famous ones like the founders of RedBus, Hungry Hogs, RangaShankara and India Plaza and others on their way to building famous enterprises – will share their experiences and their insights about where to get your ideas from. They will talk about how you should capitalize on the opportunities around you. On how pain-points, pleasure-points, culture, newspapers or even serendipity can lead to path-breaking ideas!
Who is a Mentor? How do you find him? What can or will he add to you and your business? All those answers, and so much more about that brand new species – a mentor! We cover it all here! We’ve brought in entrepreneurs who have their own reasons for adopting a mentor! One of them is a seasoned corporate professional and a seasoned entrepreneur; the other with a business in the growth stage; the third is a second generation entrepreneur and the last is a young girl who needs mentoring to give shape and structure to her dream!
We’ve always heard that entrepreneurship is a lonely journey. So is the best way to get rid of that loneliness bringing in a co-founder? Even if he adds nothing to your organization? Three entrepreneurs – each with a different experience with their co-founders – will share their stories and their learnings, so when you’re looking out for a co-founder or multiple co-founders, you know exactly what to look for!
Step 6: How do you estimate resources for your business?
Expenses come easy to all of us. Revenues that much harder! But when it comes down to it, do we know how to accurately estimate our inflow and outflow? We’ve brought in an expert to explain, in detail, how to breakdown the different financial aspects of your business. We promise it’s a useful segment, because only when the inflow is ten times more than the outflow, have you well and truly arrived!
The first six steps have been seemingly easy ones. It was like you joined college and enjoyed the sessions but dreaded the exams. That, is unfortunately how most entrepreneurs view writing their business plan. But we ask you, if it’s already there in your head, how much harder can it be to pen it? Isn’t it easier then to go back to it and refer to it every now and then and even tweak it as your business evolves? We show you how your business plan should be your wish-list. How you should not be constrained by the resources you have in-hand.
We are yet to meet one entrepreneur who proudly tells us that they don’t need a VC to back their vision and fund their business. But if VCs funded an entrepreneur’s vision on paper, wouldn’t there be a million entrepreneurs in India already? We understand that money is important to your business, and we show you the easy and simple ways raise money. Without begging and grovelling with a VC just to willingly part with your prized equity.
Step 9: How do you give legal form to your business entity?
Easily the most important step once you’ve got your business plan in place and raised money from the resources around you – how do you give your business a legal form? What type of legal entity (Proprietorship, Partnership, Private Limited Company etc) is apt and right for your business? We will explore the pros and cons of each and every one of these so you can identify your legal form by the end of this segment.
An entrepreneur cannot make his vision a reality all alone. He needs the right team to back him and support him. He needs a team that thinks and feels for the enterprise as if it were their own. In this segment we will cover how to handpick your team; how to not part with equity simply because it shows faith and how not to get swayed by false promises.
Step 11: How do you choose the appropriate technology?
It’s a common belief amongst many old-school entrepreneurs that new age technology can’t be of much help to them. That their business idea does not need any technology to support it – right from development till going-to-market. In today’s day and age, how untrue is that? We uncover how you can use appropriate technology well to benefit your business.
Step 12: How do you protect your intellectual property?
Most entrepreneurs are cagey about sharing their business idea. Their biggest fear is that if they do, it will be stolen and duplicated. So how do safeguard your intellectual property? What is intellectual property? We’ll help you protect, what is rightfully yours!
Step 13: Why should you develop a 'differentiated' product?
Extending from the previous segment, only one question arises. If your idea is so easily replicable, then how will you build a sustainable and successful enterprise? In this segment we’ll cover the need to build a differentiated product in today’s marketplace. We’ll use case studies from businesses around the world who’ve either successfully created a value differentiator or have shut shop because they got complacent and failed to do so.
Most businesses shut down in the startup phase due to lack of money. True. But why didn’t they make money? Because they failed to identify who would put their hands into their pockets and ‘pay’ to use that product/service. Imperative to every single business, irrespective of your domain, is to know exactly who your customer is. You should be able to pick them out of a line-up. Flip it on its head. You should even be able to pick out who is not your customer. Why and how, is what we’ll cover here.
Step 15: What do you need to do before going-to-market?
Your product is ready. You’ve sketched out your customer. But you failed to inform them that you had a solution for them. You failed to market your product.
Let’s say you did market your product. It’s out there on the shelves. One year goes by, and no one buys it. You failed to brand your product.
Let’s say you did brand it. Your customer knows your jingle by-heart. But quickly, your sales drop. You failed to live up to the promise of your product.
We’ll help you cover all those bases, before you go to market.
Step 16: How do you use social media technologies to acquire your customers?
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.Three of the most popular words in our dictionary today. We use it to ‘like’, ‘poke’ and ‘tag’ and ‘share’. It’s such an effective medium and it’s free. Use them well so your customer can ‘like’ ‘poke’ and ‘tag’ and ‘share’ your product.To others in his universe. What can be more viral than that?
Step 17: What is your innovation pipeline?
Innovation is the most abused word in an entrepreneur’s dictionary. Even a me-too idea, is an innovative one. If your business has hit a growth plateau, it’s because you stopped being an innovative company soon after you hit the market. When you made your business plan, did you take this ever-changing marketplace into consideration? When you did, did you ensure your innovation pipeline was full and ready to explode at least for the next 10 years? Let’s make innovation that much used word.
Going green is no longer an option but a mandate. How do you ensure that your business does go green while keeping costs in mind? Experts will be brought to talk about how your office, your factory, and your business can go green.
Step 19: Why are incubators needed in colleges?
Incubators in colleges are must-haves. But what are they? Why are they necessary? And how do they play an important role in building the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India?
Step 20: What is 'Social entrepreneurship'?
What do you mean by 'Social-Entrepreneurship'? Must we all smirk when we hear this phrase? Why is Social Entrepreneurship the need of the hour? By now, you’re ready to take off!
These are 20 critical steps in building your business. Yet, until now, in India, you have not had access to one source that can provide the answers to all these questions.
CARMa Shala is not a hear-and-forget course. It is like a map that you can keep coming back to, every time you want to know the next turn in your business.
CARMa Shala is your pocket mentor!
CARMa Shala is a basic Entrepreneurship course that is offered online. The beauty of the course is that even those of you who may not want to become entrepreneurs, can take it because it helps you, as an employee, to take ownership of the road map and become a value-added employee to any organization. Every one of you, at some stage in your professional life, will have a P&L responsibility and this course is tailor-made for you to handle it successfully.
CARMa Shala's biggest value propositions are:
The 20 Steps are comprehensive and encompass everything that needs to be done from concept stage to market-readiness.
They are designed by Professor Nandini Vaidyanathan who teaches Entrepreneurship in several ivy league schools across the world, such as IIM's, Princeton University and London School of Economics, and who brings to her classroom her real-time experience with startup businesses, having mentored more than 500 startup entrepreneurs in the last six years, across domains and geographies.
The modules are designed and delivered by Professor Nandini Vaidyanathan as she does in physical classrooms.
The language is informal, chatty and is in a radio-show format.
The 20 steps are broken down into modules with a theme each. Each Step is for one hour duration, and you can listen to it whenever you have free time, away from your college commitments or work pressures.
You can listen to the modules but cannot download them.
Once you listen to the module, if you have any questions or need clarifications, mail to Professor Nandini Vaidyanathan at nandini@carmaconnect.in. She will then put your question and her answer to it on CARMa blog so that the entire community can access it.
The entire 20-hour course is offered to you at highly affordable prices as CARMa is passionate about creating awareness about entrepreneurship in every nook and cranny of India.
How CARMa Shala works:
The Entrepreneurship course is offered on our website, www.carmaconnect.in
As soon as you register for the course and pay Rs. 2,650, you will be given a pass-worded link, where every week, you can access one module.
Each module will be uploaded by end of day every Friday, so the entire course will be up-loaded in 20 weeks.
All the modules will stay on-line for the entire duration of 26 weeks, so you can keep going back to it.
The modules will only be 'listenable', not downloadable.
Once you complete all the 20 modules, you will be mailed your CARMa Shala Certificate for Entrepreneurship for successful completion of course. There is no examination!
If you are a serious entrepreneur, you also have the option of uploading your business plan on our website in the template provided there.
You can then register for our CARMa Sutra mentoring program where we will hand-hold you to build your business.
THE BEST BUSINESS PLAN WILL RECEIVE SIX MONTHS' FREE MENTORING FROM CARMa!
The best business plans will be showcased on our website.
How to make payment for CARMa Shala:
Online through credit/debit card.
Pay directly into CARMa bank account and mail the scanned deposit challan.
If you are a large group of students from one college, you can all pay to college and college in turn can credit money into CARMa account and mail all the registration details.
Internet transfer to CARMa bank account.
Go on, register NOW and make the best use of your pocket mentor! Tell your friends too!
The CARMa Shala audio course is the copyright of CARMa Venture Services (I) Pvt. Ltd. Reproduction of any content, in part or in whole, cannot be done so without permission from CARMa.
