ASSOCIATION OF LADY ENTREPRENEURS OF INDIA

Pick the right door first

ALEAP runs several unrelated programmes, so match your need before you write to anyone:

• A startup idea, prototype or MVP and no fixed team yet: the 6-month pre-incubation programme at AIC ALEAP WE-HUB.
• A DPIIT-registered startup that wants space, labs and mentoring: the 12-month incubation programme.
• An electronics or IT startup: ask about the MeitY TIDE 2.0 route at the same centre.
• A DPIIT-registered startup looking at seed support: ask whether the seed fund call is open.
• A woman entrepreneur who needs bank finance: the ALEAP Credit Guarantee Association.
• Questions about government schemes: the FAB Cell help desk.
• Skills or training: the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, or Naipunyam for rural and semi-urban women.

How applications work

Pre-incubation and the TIDE 2.0 call stay open all year, so there is no cohort deadline to track. Pre-incubation applications go through an online form linked from the incubator page on ALEAP's website. For incubation, register through the WE-Hub website or send the membership form to aic.wehub@aleap.org. A screening committee reviews TIDE 2.0 applicants, and the centre's seed fund committee selects seed fund startups.

Check before you apply

• Who is eligible. The pre-incubation page opens it to any Indian citizen aged 18 or above. The WE-Hub website says women (75 per cent) and men (25 per cent). Ask which applies to your team.
• DPIIT registration. Incubation and the seed fund both need it, so register with DPIIT first if you have not.
• Seed fund status. The seed fund page refers to August 2021 and does not say whether a call is open now. Ask before you prepare an application.
• Costs and equity. The pages read for this profile do not state a fee or an equity stake for any incubator programme. Ask in writing before you commit.

What to show

The incubator says the only condition for pre-incubation is an innovative product at idea, prototype, proof-of-concept or MVP stage. TIDE 2.0 is aimed at electronics and IT innovations such as IoT, AI, AR and VR, drones, robotics, blockchain, gaming, 3D printing and machine learning. For incubation, the centre's named focus sectors are IT and ITES, electronics and engineering, garments and textiles, biotechnology, biodegradable technologies, food processing and 3D printing.

Contact

For the incubator, write to aic.wehub@aleap.org. The FAB Cell has its own enquiry form, linked from ALEAP's homepage.

The Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of India, known as ALEAP, is a non-profit association of women entrepreneurs based in Hyderabad, Telangana. It was established on 18 December 1993 to help women start and run businesses, and it describes itself as an ISO 9001:2015 certified organisation registered under Section 25 of the Companies Act. Its startup arm is Atal Incubation Centre ALEAP WE-HUB (AIC ALEAP WE-HUB), which is part of the Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog.

ALEAP is wider than an incubator. Alongside the incubation centre it runs a training arm, a facilitation service for bank finance, a help desk on government schemes, a skilling programme for rural women and a marketing hub. Its head office is in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, and it also has offices in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

How the incubator works

AIC ALEAP WE-HUB runs a pre-incubation programme and an incubation programme. Pre-incubation lasts 6 months and the call for applications stays open through the year. Incubation lasts 12 months. The centre also says it runs acceleration and hyper-acceleration programmes, though its pages give no detail on how to join them.

The incubation centre says it gives startups co-working space, machinery and tool labs, design labs, common facility rooms and high-speed internet. It names seven focus sectors: IT and ITES, electronics and engineering, garments and textiles, biotechnology, biodegradable technologies, food processing, and 3D printing. One of its own pages says it focuses on six sectors but then lists seven, so treat the list as indicative rather than a hard filter.

Two government schemes sit on top of the incubator. AIC ALEAP WE-HUB says it received MeitY's TIDE 2.0 scheme as a Group 2 Centre, to support electronics and IT startups with an entrepreneur-in-residence stipend, grant support and investment. It also says it was sanctioned the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme in August 2021 and has been calling for seed fund applications from across India.

Who can apply

The incubator's pages are not fully consistent about who is eligible. Its pre-incubation page says any Indian citizen aged 18 or above can apply, with no condition except that the product, at idea, prototype, proof-of-concept or MVP stage, should be innovative, and it sets no gender condition. The WE-Hub website instead says women (75 per cent) and men (25 per cent) with an innovative idea or prototype are eligible. For incubation itself, the centre says startups must be DPIIT registered. If your team is mixed or has no woman founder, ask the centre which rule applies before you apply.

The TIDE 2.0 call is open to all Indian citizens through the year and is reviewed by a screening committee. It covers innovations enabled by IoT, AI, AR and VR, drones, robotics, blockchain, gaming and 3D printing, or machine learning, with a focus on sectors of national concern. Seed fund applicants must be DPIIT registered and are selected by the centre's seed fund committee.

Other ALEAP programmes

The ALEAP Credit Guarantee Association, or ACGA, helps women entrepreneurs in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh get bank finance without collateral security through government schemes such as PMEGP, MUDRA and CGTMSE. It facilitates the route to a bank; the loan itself is the bank's.

The Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, or CED, is ALEAP's training arm. It runs awareness camps, entrepreneurship development programmes, and technology-specific, domain-specific and marketing-specific programmes, drawing on more than 500 identified domain experts. Its programme is supported by the Ministry of MSME and affiliated to the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Ahmedabad.

The FAB Cell is a help desk and information centre that gives budding women entrepreneurs one place to ask about government schemes, policy guidelines and industry-specific incentives. ALEAP Naipunyam offers skill training to rural and semi-urban women, including courses such as fashion designing, computer embroidery and industrial sewing, and runs garment livelihood incubators set up under the Ministry of MSME's ASPIRE scheme. ALEAP has also been selected by the Telangana Department of Employment and Training as an industry cluster for apprenticeships under the STRIVE scheme.

On the market side, the WE ITTC Marketing Hub at the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam ALEAP Green Industrial Park in Nandigama supports women-led MSMEs with product display, buyer-seller meets and distributor access. I WE KART is a digital marketplace for women entrepreneurs, with free onboarding for the first 10,000 women who join.

Facilities and locations

ALEAP built what it describes as the first industrial estate for women entrepreneurs in India at Gajularamaram, Hyderabad, and says more than 103 industries there are established and run by women. The incubation centre sits in the ALEAP Industrial Estate at Pragathi Nagar, Gajularamaram. ALEAP has also developed a green industrial park at Nandigama in Sangareddy district, with a master plan prepared with GIZ Germany. Its pages give different unit counts for the Nandigama park, so none is stated here.

Scale

All figures here are ALEAP's own and most are undated. Its incubation page says the incubation facility has 70 startups at various stages, with 25 in pre-incubation and 47 in incubation, and 15 under the MeitY TIDE 2.0 category. The WE-Hub website instead reports 25 incubatees and a present cohort of 18 startups. ALEAP's training page says CED has trained more than 200,000 women entrepreneurs and conducted about 700 programmes. On ACGA, one line says over 9,000 women entrepreneurs have benefited, while another on the same page counts more than 500 women entrepreneurs who received financial assistance. For Naipunyam, ALEAP reports 267 women trained, 141 of whom completed incubation, 55 of whom set up units and 82 of whom found employment. The homepage counters read 10,000+ members and 350,000+ women beneficiaries.

Who runs it

ALEAP is a membership association run through its own office-bearers. The same person is named as President of ALEAP and as CEO of AIC ALEAP WE-HUB. The incubator takes membership forms and applications at its own inbox, listed in the application tips.