GUWAHATI, Aug 17 - The Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) in collaboration with the Federation of Industry & Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) organised the North East Region Entrepreneurship and Start-up Summit (NERES 1.0) under the sponsorship of North Eastern Council (NEC). The valedictory function of the event was held on Friday, said a delayed press release issued here.
NERES 1.0 was aimed at promoting start-up entrepreneurs by offering them with a platform to pitch their business ideas. Thirty best business ideas were selected for a start-up grant of Rs 5 lakh each.
A few priority sectors like agriculture and food technology, textile and handicraft, tourism, waste management, services (education, retail, logistics etc.,), health and wellness, IT and ITES, and media and entertainment were identified for the purpose. Before the global pandemic, various activities like awareness programmes in different locations across the NER, call for applications from start-ups, development of the NERES website (www.neres.org), registration and screening of the applications and the State-wise business idea pitching were completed. The best 50 ideas were shortlisted for the final summit.
Due to the global pandemic, the final summit was postponed. However, IIE went ahead digitally to organise the boot camp and pitching of the 50 shortlisted ideas. The pandemic has disrupted many starts-ups but along with the challenges, opportunities have also emerged. Finally, 30 top business ideas were shortlisted through an online pitching platform. The 30 top winners were from different states of the North East.
The 30 winners of NERES 1.0 were felicitated at the valedictory function which was attended by a host of dignitaries including Dr. Biman Kumar Dutta, Member, NEC; Air Marshal (retd) Anjan Kumar Gogoi, Member NEC and K Moses Chalai, Secretary, NEC.
In his address, Dr Dutta appreciated the efforts of the organisers for conducting NERES 1.0 successfully. Air Marshal (retd) Gogoi lauded the winners for their vision and dream and advised them to accept failures as a stepping stone to success. Moses Chalai appreciated the risk-taking ability of the entrepreneurs and urged them to explore collaborations with various other government organisations as well for funding and other start-up schemes.
Earlier, welcoming all the guests and participants, Dr Abhijit Sharma, Director IIE, shared the institute�s endeavours over the years towards promotion and development of entrepreneurship across the north-eastern region.