Coimbatore is a city with deep entrepreneurial roots. The city that is known for its manufacturing and textile expertise has recently seen a surge in new age entrepreneurship with startups emerging in the areas of IT, Healthcare, Agriculture and IOT . Headstart, a completely volunteer driven, national startup ecosystem enabler, is looking at Coimbatore as the next potential Startup Hub for South India. It is launching a chapter in the city on March 5th at PSG STEP , an incubator backed by the PSG Group of Institutions and DST, Gov Of India.

PSG STEP is among the oldest Incubators in India that began incubating startups even before the word “startup” became fashionable, says Suresh Kumar, who has been heading the incubator since its inception in 1998 . Mr.Suresh is very optimistic about the launch of the Headstart chapter in Coimbatore, and believes that this will be the bridge for the local startup ecosystem to connect with the larger national ecosystem.

The Coimbatore chapter will be led by Arvind Subramaniam and Ebin Ephrem Elavanthingal. The launch will see Headstart’s most successful initiative ‘Startup Saturday’ that is organized every month, simultaneously across 13 other cities in India.

As part of Headstart’s  pre -launch activities in Coimbatore, they had launched “Startup Payanam” in which about 40 participants were taken on a bus ride to meet 7 startups and entrepreneurs in the city, on a journey of a lifetime. The Coimbatore chapter will actively seek to expand the scope of Startup Payanam and take more entrepreneurs and Startup Enthusiasts from Coimbatore to other startup destinations across India.

Coimbatore startups have a very strong, vibrant and close-knit startup ecosystem and that are very optimistic about the launch of a local Headstart Chapter. Gokul Raj Dhamodaran , Founder of Kovan Labs says more activities and programs like these which  expose the students and entrepreneurs to the larger ecosystem will help them to understand better the new age entrepreneurship and will open up new avenues and opportunities. Headstart has facilitated Mr.Vaitheeswaran Kothandaraman , Founder of IndiaPlazaand FabMart.com, also considered as the Father of Ecommerce, in India, in the startup circles, to be the keynote speaker for the event. Following the Keynote is a fireside chat between Mr.Dhruv, Founder ofiCliniq, a Coimbatore based startup and Mr.Vaitheeswaran. The event will close with a Panel Discussion on “Starting up in coimbatore – Challenges and Opportunities ” with Coimbatore grown entrepreneurs – Dhruv, Founder of iCliniq; Mahendra, CoFounder, Coitor and Vignesh, Founder of Helpr.in.

If you’re a founder or an aspiring entrepreneur, Head to PSG Steps, on 5th March, to be a part of Headstart Network Foundation’s Startup Saturday. The event is from 3.00 pm to 5:30 pm and registrations close by 3.15 pm.