Global entrepreneurs will be emerging from the School of Entrepreneurship and Business (SEB) at the Southend campus of the University of Essex as part of a wide-ranging collaboration with major Indian software company, Zensar Technologies Ltd.

Professor Jay Mitra has negotiated a collaborative venture with this global company's Centre for Business Innovation, based in Pune, India, on a recent  visit to India as part of a trade mission with Essex County Council.

Zensar Technologies has more than 4,000 employees worldwide, supporting Fortune 500 clients with software business solutions.

The agreement is part of Zensar's plan to address existing skills shortage and will help develop an entrepreneurial workforce. The collaboration will involve:

• joint research and teaching between Zensar and SEB on technology based entrepreneurship;
• potential collaboration on an exciting global business transformation and technology management programme .

As part of this, SEB will benefit from a £250,000 technological investment and a doctoral studentship. Professor Mitra said: 'We are delighted by this unique, and highly innovative collaboration towards creating global entrepreneurs, which is in line with the objective of the University. By creating this collaborative venture the students have access to a real education, training and action research, that makes them ready for an entrepreneurial business.'

Dr Ganesh Natarajan, Dy Chairman and Managing Director of Zensar, who is a Senior Enterprise Fellow at SEB, said: 'This will enable an ecosystem for innovation and technology entrepreneurship to be created in both countries, helping the larger mission of capacity and competency building for the industry. The capabilities of the University will complement our initiatives in this area.'

The venture will cover three areas: sponsored research (including a PhD studentship) based on Zensar’s Global Delivery Platform as an entrepreneurial opportunity in Essex and Eastern Europe to be carried out at the Southend campus; co-teaching of the Postgraduate programme for business transformation and joint development of entrepreneurial talent in the UK through a centre at SEB, powered by Zensar technologies.

Postgraduate students are expected to spend nine months in Pune at the Zensar Campus and could opt to spend three months at SEB, creating a global experience for them and accelerating their learning to make them business ready.