Organized by Agri & Allied Departments and sponsored by the Ministry of MSME, GoI, a one-day workshop was conducted to promote entrepreneurship culture in Nagaland at Rhododendron Hall, Police Complex, Chumoukedima on 7th October 2022.
Agriculture Production Commissioner, Nagaland, Y. Kikheto Sema, IAS addressing the workshop said it is time for the Nagas to usher peace and development in the state, "It is high time for us to plan for a new Nagaland, where people realize the importance of work culture and self-reliance, and promote entrepreneurship and stress towards economic development of our State."
He mentioned that the concept of entrepreneur culture has been increasing in Nagaland after the Covid pandemic and now is the time to provide all logistics support to them. He said that there is less scope in large and medium-scale industries in the State and the only hope is the Agri & Allied activities, where 70% of the population lives in rural areas and is engaged in this sector. Nagaland has been blessed with a varied agro-climatic zone where one can grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables, untouched by the green revolution the crops that grow are by default organic and there is huge potential when it comes to agro-based industries.
Sema stated that Government employment has reached the saturation point and the only way and scope is to avail the opportunities of the schemes and policies of the GoI. He said that young entrepreneurs must connect to the market, bring farmers to the market and let farmers grow. He stated that unlike in the past, the departments have decided to come up with a holistic & ecosystem approach to cultivation, hence, encouraging the farmers to come in a cluster where all activities are taking place in that cluster.
He also highlighted the few factors that need to be addressed such as meat & its products, fruits & vegetables and education where the State is spending a lot of money importing from other states. He said that these areas need to be pondered upon and addressed very seriously.
The welcome address was delivered by Addl. Secretary, Agriculture Department, Sentiwapang Aier, IAS; keynote address by Joint Secretary, MSME, GoI, Mercy Epao; Vote of thanks by Commissioner & Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Kekhrievor Kevichusa, IPoS.
During the one-day workshop, the session topics were an overview session on MSME Sector, Credit facilitation, Capacity Linkage and competitiveness, and Market Linkage and Competitiveness. The resources persons were Pawan Kumar Singh, Joint Director O/o DC(MSME), Delhi; Tali Longchar, Joint Director MSME DFO, Dimapur; Sani Pongen KVIC, Dimapur; Vijay Prakash, Zonal Head NSIC/NISSH Guwahati; Peter T, NSSHO, Guwahati; Selwin Samraj, Asst. Director, MSME DFO, Dimapur. The success stories of Entrepreneurs were presented by Wati Jamir, M/S Aero-Bio production unit Dimapur; Dr. Esha Roy, Founder & Director Arieltis Health care pvt. Ltd; Aditi Madan, Founder & Director Bluepine Foods Pvt. Ltd; Limanungsang, Founder of Jaong Everyday Express Transport & Logistics, Dimapur.
The objective of the MSME is to promote and support untapped creativity, and to promote the adoption of the latest technologies in MSMEs that seek the validation of their ideas at the proof of concept level. It primarily works for the development of people from backward and rural areas. Help and coordinate between industry and other agencies and act as a facilitator. It creates a basic infrastructure for industrial development and the creation of job opportunities through self-employment schemes. Train and develop Entrepreneurship skills among the educated unemployed youth. Nature of Assistance for the Design project is 75% and 60% (Small & Medium) of the total project cost up to a maximum of Rs 40 lakh by the contribution of GoI and the student project is 75% of the total project cost up to a maximum of Rs 2.5 lakh by the contribution of GoI. Components applicable to all sub-schemes are industry awareness programmes, training programmes, Regional/State/National workshops, Foreign Travels, International training, international benchmarking, exposure visits, and study tours for learning best practices relating to MSME innovative scheme
(Tovikali, IA, Chumoukedima)
