Incubation centres are gaining significant prominence as they play a crucial role in providing supportive environment and encouraging entrepreneurship among students. Considering its importance, the study is intended to offer a thorough knowledge of incubators’ role in promoting entrepreneurship growth using data acquired from Dakshina Kannada Management Institutes. It also intends to investigate the efficacy and success of incubators using a variety of metrics. This study is based on the mixed-method approach, where specifically the concurrent qual-quant approach is adopted. An in-depth interview was undertaken, and a structured questionnaire was formulated to collect the data from final year Masters’ students from the Management Institutes. Qualitative analysis was narrated and quantitative analysis was carried out using SPSS 26 and AMOS 23, with descriptive statistics, t-test, regression analysis, and SEM which were utilized to evaluate the association between variables. The study has highlighted the importance of reputation and credibility of the incubation centre, along with the significance of building a strong network as integral factors for learning from it. Overall, the study has found that students’ perception of education collaboration, and policy regulatory framework pertaining to incubation centres highly impacted the effectiveness of the incubation centre, which further enhances its success. This study helps to handle challenges for young entrepreneurs through proper direction and support, by refining their business ideas and collaborations with local and regional businesses to create a healthy entrepreneurship environment by fostering the integration between government bodies, financial institutions, and venture capitalists with the entrepreneurs and key stakeholders. As an exceptional highlight than other studies, this study focused on assessing the impact of awareness, perception, education and collaboration, policy and regulatory frameworks, and challenges on the effectiveness of incubators, and success of incubation centre. This has provided the answers to more comprehensive questions pertaining to incubation centre using mixed method approach. The combination of qualitative and quantitative results has identified novel findings which urges the incubation centres to identify the startups with high growth potential where the major challenges lie in convincing the students to implement their own business ideas.

Purpose: This research aims to explore the significance of cooperative efforts in promoting financial participation to enhance the socio-economic empowerment of the rural Muslims.Design/methodology/approach: The primary study with a structured questionnaire has been conducted taking a sample of 398 rural Muslim respondents from various rural regions of south India through proportionate stratified sampling techniques. Regression analysis, paired sample t-test and structural equation modelling (SEM) through statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) 26 & SPSS analysis of moment structures (AMOS) 23 software have been implemented to test the relationship.Findings: The research outcome demonstrated a remarkable difference in the rural Muslim’s socio-economic conditions before and after availing the loans from cooperatives. Consequently, an extension of cooperative efforts widens the scope of financial participation which again has positively enhanced rural Muslim’s socio-economic empowerment.Practical implications: This study will help various policymakers, academicians and communities to take necessary action for the upliftment of a particular community. The research further adds on to the existing research on the need and importance of cooperative efforts as an alternative finance for marginalised community in developing and emerging countries.Originality/value: The result of this study is only confined to south India, posing a limitation for the study. Apart from the geographical restriction, the study solemnly covers the rural Muslim community extracting other sections of the society. Hence, for more generalisable pictures of the current results, further research is recommended from other stakeholders’ perspectives.

Trust is a fundamental element in financial interactions, particularly in the advisory sector, influencing investment decisions and overall client satisfaction. This study aims to explore the impact of trust-building strategies on investment decisions through the financial advisor-client relationship. The research employs a structured questionnaire to gather data on trust-building strategies, the advisor-client relationship, and investment decisions. The study found that trust-building strategies, such as transparency and competence demonstration, positively influenced investor decisions. Specifically, 78% of investors reported increased confidence in their investment choices after engaging with advisors who prioritized transparency and expertise. Moreover, 85% of investors indicated a preference for advisors who demonstrated reliability and ethical conduct, leading to a stronger advisor-client relationship. The findings underscore the importance of trust in financial advisory services and suggest that enhancing trust through transparent practices can lead to more informed and collaborative decision-making processes. The study emphasizes the evolving nature of investment decision-making and proposes integrating technological innovations like AI and robo-advisors. The study provides valuable insights for financial institutions to invest in advisor training and guidance, benefiting all stakeholders involved.