Conclave on business opportunities

SHILLONG, JUNE 13: Chief Minister’s Entrepreneur’s Conclave around the theme ‘Business and Enterprise Opportunities in Meghalaya’ was held today at Pinewood Hotel, Shillong which was attended by Chief Minister, Dr Mukul M Sangma as the Chief Guest.

Addressing the gathering Chief Minister, Dr Mukul M Sangma said the conclave provides a space to listen to entrepreneurs and engage in participation from both the government and the entrepreneurs. “Such conclaves enable us to sit together and explore the opportunities and potentials available in our backyard, learning from each other and to format them appropriately to ensure sustainable livelihood opportunities so that the citizens of Meghalaya have a sense of well being”, he said. He also added that it is very difficult to convince people that there are opportunities outside the government sector and that such conclaves is also a platform to motivate and to inspire.

He also said that we should realize the failure of not having been able to utilize the opportunities and there is a need for course correction and move forward to ensure utilization of every opportune potentiality. He also urged both the successful and the aspiring to partner with the government and to utilize Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship (MIE) as an instrument for skill building, technology up gradation, access to finance and markets and to develop value chains to their products. He added that people can become successful entrepreneurs by creating an enabling environment for enterprise building by involving systematic engagement of all potential entrepreneurs.

The MIE is the Nodal institution in the State for facilitating rapid economic transformation through entrepreneurship education and promotion of micro enterprises involving youth, women and other critical target groups. MIE strives to be amongst the best in the area of entrepreneurship creation and promotion, innovation and application of skills, technologies through harnessing of the rich potential of promising sectors while focusing on Apiculture, Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture, Pisciculture, Aromatic and medicinal plantations, Animal Husbandry, nonfarm enterprises and other locally viable, remunerative income generating activities.

In three and a half years MIE has reached out to more than 50,000 partners across the State through various interventions like trainings, exposure visits, workshops, seminars, melas and events across various sectors.

With a view to sensitize entrepreneurs and promote wider participation in the value chains being created under various missions under IBDLP, the one day conclave was organized to network and interact with established and budding entrepreneurs of the six districts of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills to make them aware of the opportunities that exist around these missions and of the enterprise ecosystem that the government is putting in place to promote livelihoods through business. Such conclaves will also be held in Garo Hills in the coming days.

The conclave featured sessions on enterprise sharing by local entrepreneurs, presentations by experts on processing, food safety, legal metrology and also an open house where entrepreneurs got to interact and ask questions from domain experts. The conclave also highlighted the bountiful natural resource based on opportunities that exist in the State and motivated them to come forward to take and scale up such enterprises in partnership with the government as well as provide valuable feedback to the government on the constraints that the entrepreneurships faced while setting up such enterprises.

Experiences were shared by successful entrepreneurs P Kharbteng, Chairman, EKHDMU, D Majaw, SmokyFalls Tribe Coffee and Mark Laithflang, MD, Group Avenues followed by an interactive session with the Chief Minister.

Also present at the conclave were Chief Secretary, Y Tsering, Principal Secretary and Development Commissioner & Director General, MIE, R M Mishra, Deputy CEO, MBDA P Sampat Kumar and other senior officers of the government.