By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 5 Mar: At the session on promoting a Culture of Startups and Entrepreneurship organised as part of the Uttarakhand Business Summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Sudhir Chandra Nautiyal, Director, Industries, Government of Uttarakhand, remarked that the state has recently moved to the 9th position in all India startup rankings. The state presently has as many as 100 recognised startups and the government is aiming to double this number.
He stressed that government is working on building world class facilities for startup incubation and has tied up with GAME – Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship – on developing an entrepreneurship development strategy for Uttarakhand.
It is a well known fact that Uttarakhand is a landlocked state and the majority of its area is under forest cover. It faces the challenge of migration from hills due to lack of employment opportunities, hence, it is now important that all stakeholders including Government, Industry, Youth & Society work closely to support and strengthen a culture of entrepreneurship in the state, especially in the hills. Entrepreneurship will not only foster growth of the state but will also reduce migration from the hills, generate employment opportunities and support in bringing the state’s economy back on track, which has been impacted due to the ongoing pandemic, said Rakesh Oberai, Past Chairman, CII Uttarakhand State Council & MD, Oberai Motors. Promising to supplement the efforts of the State Government, Oberai, offered mentoring support to the Startups through CII.
Vinod Sharma, MD, Deki Electronics Ltd, advised the State to create a pool of experts drawn from retired officials from Industry, Banking, Financial Services, Technical Experts, etc., settled in Uttarakhand to handhold the Startups.
Other speakers present on the session were Dr Poonam Sinha, Director (Entrepreneurship Education) & Head, Regional Centre, National Institute for Entrepreneurship & Small Business Development (NIESBUD), Azam Ali Khan, CEO, Technology Incubation and Entrepreneurship Development Society (TIEDS), IIT Roorkee, and Mitresh Sharma, Founder, First Bud Organics
