The two-day WENN Bazaar (Women Entrepreneurs Network) took place at CT Square, Chumoukedima, from October 13th to 14th, 2023, under the theme "Year of Financial Literacy." This event aimed to create a sustainable networking space for women entrepreneurs and was organized by the National SC-ST Hub Office, Guwahati (NER), in collaboration with the Women Entrepreneurs Network Nagaland (WENN).
The WEN Bazar, now in its 2nd edition, is a significant platform for women entrepreneurs to collaborate, network, build their capacity, and influence the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This year, the focus was on promoting financial literacy, with workshops covering nine districts, resulting in a substantial number of women entrepreneurs registering for the event.
A key feature of the bazaar was a special awareness campaign on the National SC-ST Hub Schemes and new interventions, along with training on E-Tendering. The event served as a space for women entrepreneurs to gain the knowledge and resources needed for their businesses.
The resource person, the Senior Branch Manager from NSSH Guwahati, delivered a PowerPoint presentation on the National SC-ST Hub schemes and other support systems. The NSSH, a Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India, launched in 2016, aims to enhance the capacity of SC/ST entrepreneurs and promote entrepreneurship among the SC/ST population. It empowers the SC/ST population to participate in public procurement processes and achieve the mandated target of 4% procurement from SC/ST enterprises under the Public Procurement Policy by Ministries, Departments, and CPSEs. The NSIC (National Small Industries Corporation) implements this scheme, and the procurement percentage from SC-ST MSES has been steadily increasing over the years.
The workshop's salient features included various components such as capacity training programs, special credit-linked capital subsidy schemes, marketing assistance schemes, subsidies for registration under a single-point registration scheme, reimbursement of bank loan processing fees, reimbursement of bank charges for performance, reimbursement of testing fees, reimbursement of export promotion council membership fees, reimbursement of membership fees for government-promoted e-commerce portals, and reimbursement of short-term training program fees from the top 50 NIRF-ranked management institutions.
To benefit from any of the National SC-ST Hub's components, SC-ST entrepreneurs can visit the nearest NSIC Branch/NSSH Office or apply online through the NSSH website, [www.scsthub.in](www.scsthub.in).
The workshop featured other resource persons, including Tasangkala Imchen, Founder of Expression Life, who demonstrated Basic Decoupage Art, 7 Assam Rifles who demonstrated self-defense techniques, and Zakietsono Jamir, Founder of Coffee Lady, who presented Home Brewed Coffee.
(Tovikali IA Chumoukedima)
