Nagaland University’s Kohima campus will become an entrepreneurial hub with the university having been selected as one of the four new incubation centres under a Central Government programme for innovating incubation and start-ups in India’s North East. Under the initiative, the initial crop of winners—44 specially selected entrepreneurs from all over the region—will be incubated at the university, and all qualifying startups will be given a seed grant of up to Rs 5 lakh to fund scaling business.

The programme, “Establish, Develop, and Manage Entrepreneurship Development Centres and Incubation Centres in the Educational Institutes of the North Eastern Region,” is initiated by the North Eastern Council (NEC), Shillong, and implemented by the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), Guwahati. It is under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India. This is a welcome step by the government to create an ecosystem that’s supportive of innovation and encourage self-employment prospects for North East youths.

Of the initial batch of incubates at Nagaland University’s Kohima campus, 16 are from Arunachal Pradesh, 6 from Assam, 4 from Manipur, and the remaining 18 are from Nagaland itself. These 44 recipients were chosen from a total of 145 entrepreneurs shortlisted from the eight North Eastern states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura. They were chosen through 30 Entrepreneurship Development Centres (EDCs) established under the project, using a formal and stringent procedure.

The candidates went through Entrepreneurship Awareness Programmes (EAPs) and Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDPs) during the initial phase of training. They had to present comprehensive project reports (DPRs), in which they presented their business plans. They were thoroughly vetted by industry and government-appointed panel specialists. The elaborate process ensured that the final incubates were not only abuzz with bright ideas but also prepared to convert their ideas into scalable businesses.

Prof Jagadish K Patnaik, Nagaland University’s Vice-Chancellor, welcomed the decision with great enthusiasm and pride that the university has been chosen from among the area’s top incubation centers. “This chance reaffirms the university’s devotion to academic success and Nation-building via research, innovation, and inclusive development,” he affirmed. He also laid stress on the need for the establishment of a robust network of co-operation between academia, government, and industry to ensure this step a success.

The activities of the university under this scheme extend much more than the provision of infrastructural facilities. As an incubation center, the Nagaland University will be engaged in nominating and maintaining the records of trainee students as well as youth trainees hired from within and outside the university. These trainees will be mentored throughout the entire incubation process. The university will also arrange the resources required for the programme—such as professional trainers, support in logistics, and coordination with existing government schemes—to ensure that the incubates are given round-the-clock assistance.

Moreover, the Kohima campus will help enhance the entrepreneurial environment of the region by carrying out surveys and studies, creating databases, and adding to a repository of knowledge pertaining to North East’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Integration of entrepreneur education into the formal curriculum as well as creating an entrepreneurial culture among students from a very early age is among the key long-term objectives of the initiative.

Discussing the implementation of the programme, Dhrubajyoti Bordoloi, Coordinator, Entrepreneurship Development Centre and Incubation Centre, Nagaland University, disclosed that mentorship would be included in the programme. “Mentorship will be provided by industry experts and successful entrepreneurs to selected incubates,” he added. “We are going to hold workshops, Ideathons, Bootcamps, and Hackathons during the next six months to develop the entrepreneurial skills of the incubates.”

He also pointed out the fact that the chosen students came from some of the most geographically inaccessible regions of the North East, underscoring the broad-based nature of the initiative. By conducting different awareness programs conducted in villages and schools, the university has already set about planting the seeds of entrepreneurship among the region’s young people, leading to larger cultural change towards innovation and entrepreneurship in the region.

This initiative is also a step in line with the overall direction of the central government to build a sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem in the nation, particularly in regions such as the North East, where there is enormous potential to be harvested. Institutional support, funding, and guidance from seasoned mentors, the incubation hub in Nagaland University will be a platform for the next generation of change-leaders of the North East.