Law & Kenneth India launches The Create Project

The not for profit venture will nurture and fund innovative, 'business for good' ideas from across the field. The ideas will be screened by a panel of four business veterans and new age entrepreneurs.

On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, advertising agency Law & Kenneth India has announced The Create Project initiative. The initiative, a non-profit venture, promises to nurture, guide and fund business ideas from across the field that are useful to society at large. The ideas will be initially screened by a four member committee comprising business veterans and new-age entrepreneurs and, depending on its merit, will be mentored and backed by the agency.

Anil S Nair, CEO and managing partner, Law & Kenneth India, says, "We are looking for business ideas that are essentially 'business for good'. It can be from any field and not necessarily advertising but it has to have an impact on the society. More importantly, the idea owner will be the business owner, too. The agency in no way wants to capture the business ideas for itself."

Explaining the reason behind the launch of the initiative, Nair says that there was a thought process among the four managing partners - Nair, Praveen Kenneth, Anil K Nair and Sandhya Srinivasan - to create something that would outlive them. "With the agency completing 10 years, we thought are we only going to create campaign after campaign and retire or if we can come out with an initiative that will create an impact beyond what we were doing," Nair says, adding, "Our learning of the last 10 years was that when people have idea, they need some guidance. Today, many new agencies, which have started, ask us about our experience and challenges." The intiative will be lead by all the four managing partners of the agency.

Considering the agency has dealt with all kinds of businesses, has exposure in marketing and experienced entrepreneurs, they are confident that they can mentor new business ideas. While Nair declined to put a figure on the funds earmarked for this new venture, the project can comfortably incubate at least four or five projects. However, if they find more ideas worth investing in, the project can also connect with banks and financial institutions.

"Capital is not a problem but dearth of ideas is there. It is a myth that there is scarcity of investors but having sound business stand, vision and right advisers are an issue," Nair says. As for the duration of mentorship and financing in the business, the project will continue till the entrepreneur requires it. In return, the project will have stakes in the company in agreement with the entrepreneur.

Stating what they are looking for in an idea, Nair says, "Ideally, we would want the submissions to be articulate and reflect the clarity of the creator. It needs to have as many details as possible. We want to see that the idea has been thought through by the person and that there is a drive to see the idea through."