North East Region Entrepreneurship and Start-up Summit (NERES 1.0)
- 14 August, 2020 :: 30 best business ideas selected -

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Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship conducts digital Valedictory Programme for NERES 1.0
30 best business ideas were selected for a start-up grant of Rupees Five Lakhs each

Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) in collaboration with Federation of Industry & Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) organized the first of its kind North East Region Entrepreneurship and Start-up Summit (NERES 1.0) under the sponsorship of North Eastern Council (NEC).

NERES 1.0 is aimed at stirring up entrepreneurial minds across the NER states and promotes start-up entrepreneurs by offering them with a platform to pitch their business ideas. 30 best business ideas were selected for a start-up grant of Rupees Five Lakhs each.

Keeping the context of NER a few priority sectors like Agri & Food Tech, Textile and Handicrafts, Tourism, Waste Management, Services (Education, Retail & Logistics etc), Health & Wellness, IT & ITES, Media & Entertainmentwere identified.

Before the global pandemic, various activities like awareness programmes at various locations across the NER, call for applications from start-ups, development of the NERES website (www.neres.org), registration & 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, adapting to the times and as need of the hour, IIE went ahead digitally to organize 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 the different states of the NER.

In order to felicitate and award the 30 winners of NERES 1.0, IIE organised the Valedictory Programme of NERES 1.0 digitally on the 14th of August 2020. Dr.Biman Kumar Dutta, Member, NEC; Air Marshal Shri Anjan Kumar Gogoi, PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd.), Member NEC; and Shri. K.Moses Chalai, IAS, Secretary, NEC were the Guest of Honour of the occasion.

In his address, Dr.Biman Kumar Dutta appreciated the efforts of the organizers for conducting NERES 1.0 successfully. Air Marshal (Retd.) Air Marshall (Retd) Anjan Kumar Sharma lauded the efforts of the organizers. He also appreciated the NERES 1.0 winners for their vision and dream and advised them to accept failures as a stepping stone to success. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Moses Chalai appreciated the risk taking ability of the entrepreneurs. He also advised the entrepreneurs to explore collaborations with various other government organizations as well for funding and other start-up schemes.

Welcoming all the guest and participants, Dr. Abhijit Sharma, Director, IIE shared the institute’s endeavours over the years towards promotion and development of entrepreneurship across NER. He spoke about the objective of NERES 1.0 and that this initiative wills open doors for many start-ups to scale who otherwise cannot move ahead due to financial constraints. Dr.Sriparna B Baruah, Senior Faculty, IIE, gave a detailed presentation on the journey of NERES 1.0.

Mr. Pabitra Buragohain, President, FINER expressed his happiness to be associated with this initiative in which IIE and FINER are together working towards an enabling eco-system for start-ups through NERES 1.0. Some members associated with the journey of NERES 1.0 also shared their views and felt that such initiatives should continue and expand further to transform such wonderful ideas into commercial ventures.

The winners are

Abhinandan Dhakal AGRI & Food Tech Sikkim
Aeroshil Nameirakpam IT & ITES Manipur
Amar Jyoti Chamuah AGRI & Food Tech Assam
Babatdor Dkhar Media & Entertainment Meghalaya
Baldilla T Sangma AGRI & Food Tech Meghalaya
Bharati Aribam Services Manipur
Boilal Gangte Health & Wellness Manipur
Chimib Bhutia Textile & Handicraft Sikkim
Dinesh Lahoti Services Assam
Dipak Tumung Services Assam
Elika Awomi Textile & Handicraft Nagaland
Ishita Das Textile & Handicraft Assam
Khumanthem Rakesh Singh AGRI & Food Tech Manipur
Lingkankonsam Services Manipur
Lozano R. Humtsoe Textile & Handicraft Nagaland
Maitreya Goswami Services Assam
Manisha Tourism Sikkim
Mukul Chandra Barma Services Assam
Nengneithem Textile & Handicraft Nagaland
Pranay Kumar AGRI & Food Tech Sikkim
Pritam Pany Waste Management & Renewable Sikkim
Ranjit Baruah Health & Wellness Assam
Ratan Kumar Ghimire Tourism Assam
Rejaul Gabil Momin AGRI & Food Tech Meghalaya
Rida Gatphoh Textile & Handicraft Meghalaya
Shaswati Talukdar AGRI & Food Tech Assam
Sonam Choden Textile & Handicraft Sikkim
Sumit Das Services Assam
Supuraj Gogoi Tourism Assam
Zosangliana Hangzo Textile & Handicraft Mizoram

The programme ended with a Vote of Thanks by Mr Rajeev Goswami, Senior Associate, FINER.