18 Naga entrepreneurs undergo special business course

Correspondent
KOHIMA, SEPTEMBER 28

AS a kick-off to the much hyped joint campaign of the YouthNet and Government of Nagaland through the Department of Youth Resources and Sports to create opportunities of entrepreneurship for at least 5000 Naga youths by 2018, the YouthNet is presently holding a contest for the best entrepreneur entitled “The Entrepreneur” on October 8 at Hotel Vivor Kohima.Interacting with media-persons at The Heritage here this afternoon, YouthNet Director Hekani Jakhalu along with team member Lezo Putsure, Tomtsa Chishi and Richard Belho said that “The Entrepreneur” was launched on August 30 last as the first programme under the ‘Impact 5000 by 18’ campaign.
The programme is designed to enhance business skills of 20 select young entrepreneurs who underwent a combination of classroom lectures, case study discussions, group activities and individual project development.
The entrepreneurs participated in a five-week course taught by some of the country’s successful entrepreneurs and professional experts in the business field, where they were taught on skills such as employee management, operations management, marketing and finance to name a few.
The courses taught to the 20 participants were designed according to the local business environment, and the emphasis throughout is on learning that is practically applicable in participants’ businesses.
The classes were taken by connoisseurs in the business field such as Dr Rahul Mirchandani- Executive Director of Aries Agro Limited; Ashok Kumar Meda – CEO of Shri Prabha Global Management Exchange Exim; Rohan K Abraham- President of Pledgeback Advisory Services; Hemant Nitturkar- the Project Development Officer, India for AVRDC- the World Vegetable Center, Taiwan; Neichute Doulo, CEO of Entrepreneurs Associates and Dr.Abhijit Sharma, Associate Professor at Indian Institute of Banking Management, Guwahati, Assam.
Today was the last day of the classes which was lectured by Nagaland Governor Ashwani Kumar at Raj Bhavan, she said.
Subsequently, now the entrepreneurs are set to participate in the competition entitled “The Entrepreneur” where they will develop a “business growth plan” which will be judged and Member of Parliament and Entrepreneur Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Rajeev will hand over a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to “The Entrepreneur” as the idea is inspired by Rajeev himself, who is the programme’s Chief Mentor and who has also funded the prize money, the YoutNet officials said.
Meanwhile, expressing concerns that financial loan from banks becomes a problem in the state, the YouthNet are contemplating to approach the government to work towards formulating a policy so that bank loans can be made available to promising entrepreneurs.