CM's entrepreneurs' conclave held

STAFF CORRESPOPNDENT

SHILLONG, June 13: The Chief Minister’s Entrepreneurs’ Conclave on the theme ‘Business and Enterprise Opportunities in Meghalaya’ was held on Tuesday at Pinewood Hotel, Shillong which was attended by Chief Minister Dr Mukul M Sangma as chief guest.

Addressing the gathering Chief Minister Sangma said the conclave provides a space to listen to entrepreneurs and engage in participation from both the government and the entrepreneurs.

“Such conclaves eble 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 sustaible livelihood opportunities so that the citizens of Meghalaya have a sense of well being,” he said.

He added that it is very difficult to convince people that there are opportunities outside the government sectors and that such conclave is also a platform to motivate and to inspire.

Sangma urged both the successful and the aspiring entrepreneurs to partner with the government and to utilize Meghalaya Institute of Entrepreneurship (MIE) as an instrument for skill building, technology up gradation, access to fince and markets and to develop value chains to their products. He added that people can become successful entrepreneurs by creating an ebling 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.

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, semirs, melas and events across various sectors.

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 tural 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.

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 were also present at the conclave.