The Meghalaya government will earmark a corpus of Rs 125 crore over the next two years as Promotion and Incubation of Market-driven Enterprises (PRIME) fund to support the efforts of entrepreneurs in the state.
This was announced by chief minister Conrad K Sangma while speaking at the PRIME Entrepreneurship Awards with officials of MBMA, North East Small Finance Bank, SBI, entrepreneurs and artisans of Meghalaya on Friday.
Speaking on the occasion, he lauded the efforts of the MBMA and stated that it feels great to see the sector that was left neglected for a long time being given the attention it requires to prosper.
“I am happy to witness our artisans and entrepreneurs getting the opportunities and the much-needed handholding through the Ateliers Programme and the PRIME Meghalaya initiative,” he added.
Sangma stressed on the need to create value for products of the state and the importance of packaging, market the story and present the products of entrepreneurs and artisans.
“Through the initiatives of the government, the entrepreneurship culture can spread to all different sectors to encourage talented and enterprising people of Meghalaya,” the chief minister said.
Further, Sangma announced that the Government will introduce the ‘Chief Minister’s Music Award’ on a monthly basis to award musicians of the State.
Dr. D. Vijay Kumar, CEO of MBMA said a tourism store will be set up in Delhi to brand the State and a model is being worked out on where Ateliers supply their products and crafts to the Delhi store.