Director– Agri Entrepreneurship Centre

Location: Erode

Role Purpose To lead the Entrepreneurship Centre as a bridge between academia and industry by fostering learning, innovation, start-ups, incubation, industry partnerships, commercialization of research, and entrepreneurial skill development among students, farmers, faculty, and community stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategy & Leadership

- Develop and execute the Centre’s vision, roadmap, and annual operating plan
- Position the Centre as a hub for innovation, start-ups, and industry collaboration
- Build an entrepreneurial culture across campus and partner institutions

2. Academic Integration

- Embed entrepreneurship into curriculum and experiential learning and implement the same for both students and farmers.
- Introduce minor/specialization programs including Post Graduation programmes from inception to implementation, incubation credits, live projects
- Facilitate faculty development in innovation and venture mentoring

3. Industry Collaboration

- Forge partnerships with industries, start-ups, investors, incubators, and accelerators
- Create industry-mentored projects and internship pipelines
- Enable technology transfer and commercialization of academic research

4. Incubation & Start-up Development

- Establish and manage incubation/acceleration programs
- Support ideation → prototype → market → scaling stages
- Facilitate access to funding, grants, angel investors, and venture capital

5. Student & Farmer Entrepreneurship Development

- Promote student start-ups, rural entrepreneurship, and social enterprises
- Conduct boot camps, hackathons, innovation challenges




- Support farmer/grassroots entrepreneurship (especially relevant in Agri ecosystem)
- Extend classes in the entrepreneurship space to facilitate students and farmers to get knowledge and skill.

6. Governance & Ecosystem Building

- Create advisory boards with academia, industry, and investors
- Align with government schemes and national innovation missions
- Ensure compliance with incubation and innovation frameworks

Key Deliverables / KPIs · Number of students converted to entrepreneurs.

· Number of farmers converted to entrepreneurs

· Number of start-ups incubated and sustained

· Industry partnerships and MoUs signed

· Funding attracted (grants, CSR, investors)

· Patents, technologies commercialized

· Student participation in entrepreneurship programs both in theoretical as well as action learning.

· Adept in rubrics management of students.

· Revenue/self-sustainability of the Centre

Competencies Required

Strategic

- Ecosystem building
- Innovation leadership
- Industry networking
- Teaching exposure for students and farmers

Functional

- Entrepreneurship & incubation management
- Technology commercialization
- Fundraising and partnership development

Behavioural

- Visionary thinking
- Influencing and stakeholder management
- Collaborative leadership
- Execution orientation

Ideal Profile

- Senior academic / industry professional with entrepreneurship exposure
- Experience in start-ups, incubation centres, innovation programs, or industry partnerships
- Robust network across academia, industry, investors, and government bodies

Pay: ₹2,200,000.00 - ₹2,500,000.00 per year

Work Location: In person

📌 Director– Agri Entrepreneurship Centre (Erode)
🏢 Velgha Learning Solutions
📍 Erode