Nikhilesh Desai

Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India

The Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), an autonomous and not-for-profit Institute, set up in 1983, is sponsored by apex financial institutions - the IDBI Bank Ltd., IFCI Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd. and State Bank of India (SBI). The Government of Gujarat pledged twenty-three acres of land on which stands the majestic and sprawling EDI campus. To pursue its mission further, EDII has helped set up twelve state-level exclusive entrepreneurship development centres and institutes. One of the most satisfying achievements, however, was taking entrepreneurship to a large number of schools, colleges, science and technology institutions and management schools in several states by including entrepreneurship inputs in their curricula. In view of EDII's expertise in Entrepreneurship, the University Grants Commission appointed the EDII as an expert agency to develop curriculum on Entrepreneurship. EDII's success led by its strong sense of commitment culminated in recognition of its achievements by the Government of India and various state governments. In the international arena, efforts to develop entrepreneurship by way of sharing resources and organising training programmes, have helped the EDII earn accolades and support from the World Bank, Commonwealth Secretariat, UNIDO, ILO, FNSt, British Council, Ford Foundation, European Union and several other renowned agencies.