On October 6, 2016 Neichute Doulo brought cheers and accolades for himself and his team when he was adjudged as the winner of the Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY 2016). The founder and the CEO of Entrepreneurs Associate was initially shortlisted from over hundred application received from across the country in the top 5 for the finals.
Though EA and Neichute were known among the youth and the nascent group of entrepreneurs in the state for some years now the award that came sixteen years after Entrepreneurs Associates was founded only vindicates further the vision and the works of EA and its CEO. Looking back to the year 2000, the state had gone through one of the worst decades when the Naga Political Groups intensified their armed operations against each other and also against the Indian Army. Till the early 2000s there was an air of insecurity in the minds of the people and even trading was limited to few hours in the day in almost all the town in the state. This along with the various ‘taxations’ resulted in almost zero investment by private companies in state and the youth are dependent till present times solely on government jobs.
At such a juncture not all can come up with a concept that entrepreneurship would be an alternative means of livelihood for the people of the state. His concept and the achievements over the years rightfully justifies the criteria of the award that was based on innovation, sustainability, scalability, reach and social impact. Even though some of the finalist had bigger projects and covering a wider area, the concept of EA was able to outclass them in the finals.
It has been reported in the media that he even used to sell newspapers and he left his teaching job in a college to start EA. His zeal to return the control of the economy to the local people would have driven him to start this venture, but one thing that stands out is the attitude of the financial institutions and its officials then in the state that was quite unfriendly to the locals that prompted Neichute and his team to take them on their mission. By omission or by commission there was a serious gap between the handful of aspiring local entrepreneurs in the state and the banks those days. Through his various talks among aspiring entrepreneurs it is learned that Neichute and his team had a strong conviction to help the local entrepreneurs without any assistance from the banks. Over years EA surely would have made the banks turn their heads and made them realise their earlier folly of not seeing the capacity of the local youths. EA runs a successful financial assistance programme for aspiring entrepreneurs.
A strong believer in entrepreneurship at the grassroots and a strong advocate against the culture of ‘easy-money’ in the state, his talks always feature those multinational companies that had humble beginnings. A person who in his terms maintains he is still an aspiring entrepreneur, and who believes that there can be development and trade amidst chaos, surely have much to offer to the society in the days to come. He once said, “Are we to say that there cannot be business without peace? We have to understand where we are. We have to plan in the midst of violence. It is sad but true. Because, be it with or without violence we must learn to do business,”. Nagas need more of such personas who has the typical unabashed Naga attitude of diving head on to problem solving but also can think out of the box.
