In ease of doing business Uttarakhand is at sixth place and the ranking will further improve. The objective of the ‘Startup policy’ of the Government is to promote young entrepreneurs in the State. The Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said this while flagging off a ‘Startup Van’ for ‘Start Up Yatra’ of Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) department here on Monday. Exhorting the youths of the State to be employment givers instead of becoming job seekers, the CM said that that Uttarakhand has a huge potential for start Ups and the fact that youngsters comprise 58 per cent of the population of Uttarakhand augments this belief. He assured that the State Government is committed to provide best environment for industries.
Terming the ‘Start- up Van’ as a good initiative, Rawat suggested that the department should identify future entrepreneurs based on their interest.
The highlight of the programme was declaration of Start-up incubator company ‘Venture Catalyst’s’ co-founder Apoorv Sharma that his company would invest Rs 100 Crores to encourage start ups in Uttarakhand.
He said that it is his endeavour to do something for his native place and declared his intention to set up national and international level “Angel Network’ to provide funds to start-up entrepreneurs in the state.
The BJP leader and Mussoorie MlA, Ganesh Joshi hoped that the start-up policy will help in giving direction to the youth of the state. He suggested that a workshop for public representatives on Government run employment schemes should be organised, so that the youths can be sensitise youth about them.
The Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand, Utpal Kumar Singh said that an effective response system should be set in place for queries and grievances of entrepreneurs. He also suggested that the ‘Start up Yatra’ should be taken to all parts of the state including the smaller towns and rural areas.
The Principal Secretary MSME, Manisha Panwar said that the one day boot camps in eight colleges and institutes of the state would be held during the course of the Yatra. She informed that the department has taken a target to provide benefit to 4000 youths directly and 20000 youths indirectly with the start ups.
Panwar added that the objective of the ‘Yatra’ is to create awareness among youths about the financial assistance being given by the State and the Union Governments and the innovations done by other states so that youths can adopt them for self employment.
The Uttarakhand Government has set up a ‘Start-up Council’ as part its Start-up policy. Departmental data reveals that a total of 60 start-ups have got Government’s recognition and soon they will start getting financial support from the Government.