A company based at Silicon Jeri in Manjeri recently filled an engineering role with someone who lives 400 kilometers away, in a small town most people outside Tamil Nadu have never heard of. That engineer has never visited Manjeri. He has no plan to move there either....
Ask most people what Kerala’s startup policy has done for the state, and you will hear about Kochi’s IT corridor or the capital’s incubators. Almost nobody mentions a town like Manjeri. That gap is not an accident, and it is not permanent either. Key...
Most tech hiring in India quietly assumes two things: that you studied in English, and that someone in your family already works an office job. Walk into a classroom in and around Manjeri and both assumptions fall apart. Many students here studied in Malayalam-medium...
A mentor lands at Calicut International Airport, drives an hour to Manjeri, and then asks the question every visitor asks: where do I check in tonight? There is no five-star chain here yet. There is no row of business hotels near the campus. This is what it actually...
Some founders pick a city the way they pick a co-founder. They ask around, they watch how people talk about it, and they make the call before they ever show up in person. A small but growing group of founders did exactly that with Manjeri. No site visit. No...
