The Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), an institution under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, aided by the North Eastern Council, plans to launch Entrepreneurship Development Centres (EDC) as well as Incubation Centres in higher educational institutions of North Eastern Region (NER) to encourage an entrepreneurial ecosystem among college students of NER and encourage them, stated a report by ANI.
Dr Lalit Sharma, IIE Director who is initiating the project, commented on the mature start-up ecosystems in Karnataka and Gujarat and the vital role of youth behind its growth. “IIE plans to develop an ecosystem of NER through college youth. IIE shall reach out to young college students by developing Entrepreneurship Development Centres and Incubation Centres within the higher educational institutions of NER" he added.
The initiation of EDC aims to encourage and nurture entrepreneurship culture in higher educational institutions and raise the capacity of institutions to develop student entrepreneurship, says a report by ANI.
For NER, doing more, doing better
NER is lacking when it comes to the number of student start-ups, especially when compared to other states. For boosting student start-ups, higher educational institutions should possess the capacity to develop student entrepreneurship, the IIE director said. “Through EDCs, IIE shall work on enhancing the entrepreneurial intent of students and provide them with all necessary support including expanding upon their ideas, developing prototypes, conducting market research, developing their business plans, pitching for their startups and providing mentoring support to students," he added.
Necessary technological support, market linkages, financial linkages, handholding support, grant support and professional networking support will be supplied by the Incubation Centers for promoting commercially viable and sustainable student start-ups. As many as 30 EDCs’ and four Incubation Centres will be built in higher educational institutes of NER by IIE in the first phase with the aid of the North Eastern Council.
What about students in remote areas?
For the students in the remote areas, IIE will be building more EDCs and Incubation centres in future in the remotest areas of NER so that they too become a part of the start-up movement in the country and play a part in the economic development of NER, he said.
As many as 50 selected student start-ups will be aided financially by this project with a one-time grant funding of Rs 5 lakh each to begin their endeavours.
Sharma said, "IIE is excited to take on this new responsibility and is confident that the initiative would help foster a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation among college students in the NorthEast Region."
As many as 1,143 registered start-ups are present in total from the eight states of the Northeast, says the data of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, as on March 2023. Whereas, during the same period, there are 10,808 start-ups in Karnataka and 6,988 start-ups in Gujarat.
