Kanwal Rekhi, a silicon valley entrepreneur who founded The Indus Entrepreneurs, has announced a financial assistance of ₹20 crore to Kakatiya Sandbox in Nizamabad in Telangana.
Kakatiya Sandbox, promoted by entrepreneur Raju Reddy, supports rural innovation projects by helping rural entrepreneurs to scale up their operations.
Kanwal Rekhi, who is here for the TiE Global Summit, has announced the support to Kakatiya Sandbox through Kanwal Rekhi Rural Entrepreneurship and Start-up Center (KREST).
KREST will be a part of K-hub, a social innovation hub run by Kakatiya Sandbox, to improve economic prosperity in the region.
Incubation centre
KREST will set up a 10,000-sq ft of space, which will include a 4,000-sq ft incubator and 3,000-sq ft of a Makers Lab. It would also have a 100-seater co-working space.
“KS will use the investment to scale its programmes across agriculture, skilling, start-ups, and micro-entrepreneurship,” Raju Reddy said in a statement on Wednesday.
Kanwal was the first Indo-American Founder and Chief Executive Officer to take a venture-backed company public on the NASDAQ.
KREST will help build a strong rural entrepreneurship ecosystem for entrepreneurs to test their ideas, build successful ventures, and scale.
“KREST can become a model for other parts of rural and semi-urban India,” Raju Reddy said.
“Indians have raised the bar in the US and built great prosperity through entrepreneurship. We want a similar movement in India to create an ecosystem that supports 10 million entrepreneurs when India turns 100 years in 2047,” Kanwal said.
“To achieve this goal, it needs an entrepreneur-driven infusion of technology and techniques in this sector. I hope Kakatiya Sandbox will validate this idea and provide a role model for others,” he said.