Apex College and MNS Next Venture Corp have agreed to set up a Rs10 million fund for startup centre for the development and promotion of youth entrepreneurship.

Dr Kishore Dhungana, assistant director of the college, and Kavi Raj Joshi, founder and managing director of the firm, signed the agreement on Tuesday. "The fund has been created to support Apex students and alumni for their new venture businesses," Joshi said.

Providing suggestions and information regarding business, Dhungana said that the startup centre would be crucial in providing the necessary resources and investment for college students and alumni. He said that they had always prioritised innovative entrepreneurship.

"In the college's orientation programme, we ask students to visit different markets and identify problems and come up with business ideas to solve them," said Dhungana. “We have been doing this for the development of business from the initial days,” he said.

Dhungana said students at Apex are encouraged to become entrepreneurs through programmes such as the Entrepreneur Development Programme and Apex Talks Management.

"About 2,000 students currently studying at the college and 5,000 alumni are eligible for the programme," he said. "More than 150 mentors from college faculties and corps will guide student entrepreneurs and help them with resources," he said. "Our goal is to produce real entrepreneurs."

College students will get lifelong support through this programme, he said. Joshi said that the Apex One on One programme would be organised on a monthly basis to give students business motivation and information.

"A group of students will be participating in a three-month boot camp having projects with good potential," said Joshi, adding, mentoring will be done by experts to forward the business. On a demo day after boot camp, the college faculty, former students and other entrepreneurs can invest in the project.

"Startups not getting investment will be promoted through startup funds," he said. “Student-targeted programmes and funds are a new endeavor."