Daring to dream

Entrepreneurship and innovation are viewed as the key drivers of economic growth thereby simulating whole round development, especially in low-income countries, and uplifting the living standard of the people.

 

In 2016, the pioneering Naga Entrepreneur, Neichüte Duolo, during a lecture, had good as well as bad news for budding entrepreneurs. The good news is, the CEO and Coordinator of Entrepreneurs Associates stated, “Anyone can become one. The avenue for entrepreneurship is abundant in Nagaland.” The bad news, however, is that entrepreneurship is not for those looking for instant riches and recognition, he noted adding, “Ten years is considered an ‘instant success.’

 

Most recently during the Entrepreneur Associates Innovation Fund (EAIF) Award, Duolo sought the support and partnership of the government to make Nagaland “an innovation hub for the northeast.” At the same event, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio urged the entrepreneurs to “dream big and grow” stating that job opportunities in the government sector has reached a saturation point.

 

The Chief Minister is right on both counts, but the remedies lie in how the government generate a conducive environment to enable such outcomes.

 

For instance, in 2018, out of 36,996, there were 25,842 successful candidates in the Nagaland Board of School Education conducted HSLC and HSSLC exams. The total number of State’s applicants for the Post-Matric Scholarships Scheme for Minorities under the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India in the in the Academic Year (2017-18) was 31838.

 

Additionally, the number of applicants on live register of employment exchanges of the Nagaland Government, as on December 31, 2016, was 68,504, a conservative figure as most people do not bother to register. Taken together, one can safely assert that there are at least one educated lakh people are prospectively looking for some kind at any given time. An intimidating figure, it will undoubtedly burgeon in the future and one is even not considering non-college going youth here.

 

Against this backdrop, the state’s Department of Economics & Statistics’ ‘Govt. Employees Census’ informed that while employment in the sector state increased from 8311 in 1964 to 97576 in 2015, it had saturated in recent years not averaging even 2000 per annum.

 

Such figures have serious economic, social-cultural and political implication.

 

In such a situation, advancing and facilitating opportunities to youth must be the first policy imperative and critical component of the incumbent government.

 

The strategy is clear cut. The government must create the necessary infrastructure not only to support entrepreneurship but sustain the same. For instance, good roads will provide critical easy access to sources of raw materials for any enterprises to drive. This is sorely lacking in the state.

 

Devoid of ‘venture capitalist’ to support new ideas and innovation, the government’s role is of paramount importance to clear the primary barriers of any entrepreneurs – capacity, financing, and market access. A request to Chief Minister by Duolo to help EA access startup “finance from financial institutes by providing a state government guarantee,” points to such problem.

 

A key priority is also to understand the dynamics of entrepreneurship in the regional context and promotion of locally-suited reforms and must involve creating avenue not only for the educated, but bestowing equal opportunity to uneducated and disadvantaged young people.

 

The Chief Minister is daring Naga youth to dream but one cannot do so if the reality is a nightmare. The onus lies with the government to implement policies and create an ecosystem to engender and nurture such dreams.

 

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