Network of Indian Agri-Business Incubators (NIABI) is an initiative of ICAR-NAIP coordinated by Agri-Business Incubator at ICRISAT operated out of 10 BPD (Business Planning and Development) Units of ICAR Research Institutes and State Agricultural Universities across the country

It is an initiative taken by ABI-ICRISAT to strengthen the agri-business incubation activities.

NIABI is a network to handhold and mentor the 10 BPD units engaged in business incubation activities.

NIABI will facilitate effective, ongoing interactions between mentees and mentors by providing an ideal interaction technology and infrastructure.

The mission of NIABI is “To enhance agri-business development and impacts on agriculture through co-business incubation”

Mentors network is an initiative of NIABI for ensuring success of its incubators and entrepreneurs at technical and business front

This knowledge drive is expected to take our agripreneural initiatives a step ahead where they can materialze their aspirations into concrete entreprises

What is Mentoring? Mentoring is a relationship between an individual with potential and

an individual with expertise The aim of the mentoring program is to provide functional and

domain services to the clients, to create successful and sustainable agri-business ventures. The mentors will be working with the BPD units, under ABI-ICRISAT for mentorship activity

Mentor: A mentor is an individual, usually experienced who helps and guides another individual’s development

Domain Areas: Domain areas of the mentors should be related to agriculture and its allied sectors.

Functional areas: The functional experts can be graduates having relevant industrial or entrepreneurial experience

Mentee: A mentee is an achiever willing to take the initiative for his/her own development and make the most of available opportunities.

NIABI “ Call for gurus in Agri- Business” Advertisement was first posted in “The Hindu” newspaper in the Opportunities column on 5 May 2010

It is also posted in networking sites- LinkedIn, Twitter

Total leads generated- 200

applications

No of applicants selected- 70

S.NO CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF MENTORS YES OR NO

1 Relevant Qualifications2 Relevant Professional experience3 Relevant mentoring or business experience4 Relevant achievements5 Relevant skills6 Actual reference of success7 Actual time available for mentorship8 Relevant publications9 Ease of access10 Appropriate position/status11 Relevant training/exposure12 Cross functional expertise13 Relevant professional affiliation

For Internal Evaluation Purpose, overall score: Scale for assessment of the score of the

applicant: Less than 3 : No 3 to 5 : Ok 6 to 8 : Good 9 to 12 : Excellent

Note: For every criterion marks that can be given are 0, 0.5 and 1depending upon the level to which the individual satisfies the criteria. 0 = Not satisfying or not applicable 0.5 = partially satisfactory 1 = fully satisfactory

TOTAL NUMBER OF MENTORS SELECTED – 70