Sijo Kuruvilla George is the Founding CEO of Startup Village, India’s first PPP (Public Private Partnership) Technology Business Incubator (TBI), which brought entrepreneurship and startups to widespread public discourse in the state of Kerala. He is also the co-founder of MobME, one of the first student startups from the state. Sijo was instrumental in the conceptualization and advocacy of the Student Entrepreneurship Policy in the state of Kerala. In recognition of his contributions to society, Sijo was invited to the first cohort of Rajeev Circle Fellowships by Motwani Jadeja Foundation and the International Visitor Leadership Forum (IVLP), prestigious professional exchange program of the Department of State, USA. He is a speaker at various forums, columnist and also a consultant to several organisations. Sijo is presently engaged with building out his non- profit initiative, Rethink. His interests lies at the intersection of education, technology and policy.

Startup Village is a not-for-profit business incubator based in Kochi, Kerala, India, started in April 2012. The organisation aimed to launch 1,000 technology startups over the next ten years and start the search for the next billion-dollar Indian company. It focusses primarily on student startups and telecom innovation. It is India’s first incubator that is funded jointly by the public and private sectors. As of October 2013, Startup Village has supported 450 startups through Incubation and Virtual Incubation combined.