In order to boost entrepreneurship and support the start-up culture, a start-up incubator ‘Assam Hub’ will be set up in the State. Additional Chief Secretary to the Industries and Commerce Department of Assam Ravi Capoor said this on Thursday.
The start-up incubator has been modelled on the line of the Telangana model called T-Hub, which is India’s largest start-up incubator.
“The Indian economic development is going through an interesting and challenging time. We see that the entrepreneurship culture dips as we move towards eastern India. But we are heading towards a ‘competitive federalism’ whereby States are seeking investments. In Assam, the impetus is on industrial development now,” Capoor said during the Rongali Startup & Entrepreneurship Conclave 2018.
“The human resource base from our region is rated very highly but it is observed that the youth move out to metro cities in search of jobs. Unfortunately, we could not retain them in the State. We are trying to reverse it,” Capoor added.
The incubator will bring together venture capitalists, angel investors and mentors to guide the emerging start-ups.
Capoor further said, “We will also provide Rs 50 lakh as seed capital.”
Earlier, in a session titled ‘Startup Incubation and mentoring’, Bikram Seth of Mumbai’s IT & Business Consultant Lead Angels, said, “For any business idea to be successful, one needs to understand the customers and then identify their problem. Next, one needs to come up with a solution which could also generate revenue and become a profitable venture eventually.”
K Darunkumar Singh of IIT Guwahati gave a presentation on the Technology Incubation Centre (TIC) of IIT-G which has been instrumental in creating a start-up ecosystem in the IIT-G campus.
The emerging entrepreneurs also interacted with Hrishikesh Kulkarni and Vikyath Nanjappa from NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) of IIM Bangalore and Vineet Khurana of VP Chandigarh Angel Network regarding the financial aspects of developing a start-up.