Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 21 Oct: On a cold morning in Bhimtal, the gentle hum of bees fills the mountain air as Pankaj Pandey carefully lifts a honey-rich wooden frame from his family’s beehives. Just a few years ago, this small apiary barely earned enough to support the household. Pankaj, an MBA student at Kumaun University, attended a two-day boot camp under the Devbhoomi Udyamita Yojana (DUY) — an initiative of the Department of Higher Education, Government of Uttarakhand, implemented by the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), Ahmedabad. The camp ignited his passion to turn his family’s traditional honey harvesting into a value-added, branded enterprise. With the guidance of mentors, he developed a Business Model Canvas. DUY mentors spotted his potential and selected him for a 12-day Entrepreneurship Development Programme, which further refined his business idea.
Pankaj launched Parv Honey, a brand built on authenticity and trust. He received seed funding of Rs 75,000 under DUY. Within a year, he generated revenue of Rs 5,00,000. His goal is to build a sustainable, trust-based brand with a strong regional identity and scale the business to Rs 25 lakh by 2028.
Similarly, witnessing the disturbances caused by forest fires, Zainab Siddiqui, a postgraduate in Botany from Govt PG College, New Tehri, founded Eco Nexus Innovation Pvt Ltd., which makes composite boards from dry pine needles. DUY training helped her refine the concept, file a patent and trademark and attract funding support of Rs 75,000 from the Uttarakhand Government, Rs 1 lakh as CSR grant from Hero Moto Corp and Rs 5 lakh from IIM Kashipur.
Prince Mandal, from Maldevta, Dehradun, who entered DUY intending to build vending machines but, with mentor guidance, pivoted to crafting glass cupcakes with a 21-day shelf life under his brand Emojis Café, for which he was awarded a seed fund of Rs 75,000. He also plans to integrate a zero-waste kitchen model with solar drying and processing to further align with green practices.
Under the Dev Bhoomi Udyamita Yojana, villages are gradually transforming into hubs of local opportunity. Young people who once dreamt of migrating are now building ventures at home — blending tradition with innovation and redefining success in the hills.
Launched in September 2023, DUY has set an entrepreneurial momentum in the State, with institutionalisation of entrepreneurship in 124 campuses through Devbhoomi Udyamita Kendras, thus sensitising 14,260 students about the benefits of entrepreneurship as a career. To keep the pace sustainable, a cadre of 185 faculty mentors has also been instituted. Notably, nearly 8901 students have been imparted focused training in New Enterprise Creation and scaling up of enterprises. All the initiatives were implemented under the aegis of a curriculum which EDII had specially developed, keeping in view the elements of continuity, stability and long-term impact.
