Dr Manisha Acharya

Dr. Manisha Acharya

[M.Sc, PhD, Chevening Fellow – University of Oxford, Dip. In Business & Entrepreneurship]

Author of the Book – “Seed to sapling : The Incubator Way”

  • A combined experience of about 21 years in Innovation, Incubation, Start-up mentoring, Corporates and Life Sciences Research.

  • Has been at Leadership positions / CEO of several Incubators in both Pvt and University system like ‘Indigram Labs Foundation’, New Delhi, ‘CII Utkal’ at Utkal University and ‘KIIT TBI’ etc.

  • Currently she is the Founder Director of WEneurs’ Forum, a company incorporated to promote Women entrepreneurship in the country. She is also associated with SoA-CII as Senior Consultant and Lead CSR at Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeoscience.

  • Mentor in Level Up- an acceleration program by Google

  • Author of “ SEED TO SAPLING-The Incubator Way”- ready referral material for every stakeholder in the Start up eco-system, more particularly those connected to Incubation architecture.

  • During her tenure, Indigram labs, New Delhi received the best emerging technology business incubator award from DST, GoI.

  • Has extensive knowledge of the startup eco-system by virtue of her experience as the Head of the Startup Eco-system Development Initiative of ISBA [Indian STEPs & Business Incubators Association] at New Delhi.

  • Featured in a book “She is” that recognises 75 outstanding women engaged in promotion and popularization of Science, Technology, Engineering, Applied arts and Mathematics (STEAM) in the country, published under the aegis of British High Commission to commemorate India’s 75 years of independence.

  • A Member of the Expert Advisory Committee on Innovation – Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Program [i-STED] of Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt of India.

  • Was awarded the prestigious British Chevening Fellowship in Science, Research and Innovation [CRISP] at University of Oxford, awarded by British Foreign and Commonwealth office during 2019.

  • She is Women Angel Investor in Lets’ Venture Platform

  • She was nominated by Govt of India as a member of a delegation to visit, study and network with the Start-up Eco-system at Silicon Valley in 2018.

  • she was nominated by Asia Productivity Organization (APO) to participate in a training and cross-learning program for Technology Incubation Managers at Taiwan during 2014.

  • She is a recognized Mentor by the “Mentor on Road”, Startup India and a certified Master Trainer by ‘Innompics”.

  • Was awarded the Best CEO under the Incubator category by ICFA (Indian Council of Food & Agriculture).

  • Has been an invited speaker in various national and international events.

  • She has received “Miss Innovation Award” in 5th World Innompics Games 2021, held online” ( http://innompics.com/people/acharya-manisha.html)

  • Has overseen the entire cycles of Startup incubatee selection till graduation out of the incubator.

  • She has experience of working on TBI sustainability including project funding for incubators as also seed fund support to startups. She has served in the board of 2 startups and in the advisory board of a couple of more.

  • She is / has been in Advisory board of several Incubators across India. She is well networked within the startup eco-system including Government agencies, Angels, VCs, Mentors and Incubators, as well as global networks like AABI, INBIA, IC2 Texas Austin, and Incubators at Taiwan, US, UK, Europe etc.

  • She has also got exposure to Intellectual Property Rights Laws and Technology Transfer.

  • Dr Manisha has in-depth understanding of Incubation & Innovation management Eco-System, Start- Up Eco-system, Business Incubation, Startup dynamics, Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurial challenges.

  • Has demonstrated ability to work with Entrepreneurs, Scientists, Educationists and diverse stakeholders