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Neichute Doulo and members of his team showing the citation he received, during a press conference in Kohima town on October 13.[/caption]
KOHIMA, OCTOBER 13 : In winning the award ‘Social Entrepreneur of the Year India 2016’ instituted by the Schwab Foundation and the Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, Neichute Doulo of the Entrepreneurs’ Associates has brought a laurel to Nagaland. He has proven beyond doubt that the Nagas are bankable, dependable and trustable.
It is perhaps for the first time that a person from the northeast region has bagged the award. It can be hailed as a new chapter for the region to change stereotypes about Nagaland and the north east as being hubs of insurgency.
Neichute Doulo was selected out of over 100 applicants. After multiple rounds of rigorous assessments, he was declared the winner. The criteria for selection were based on innovation, sustainability, direct social impact, quantifiable results and ‘replicability.’
Interacting with media persons this morning in Kohima town, the humble Neichute Doulo said modestly that he was ‘just a face for the award’ and that it was for Nagaland and the region.
He was optimistic that the award would ‘create a new look for the entire region’ as a potential pivot for economic growth, to attract investors and development players to associate with this part of the country which otherwise always attracts negative publicity.
Most importantly, Doulo said, the award ‘will trigger the process of branding Nagaland and the entire NE as being an asset to the country, instead of being a liability; ignite the spirit of making the states become revenue states in the long run.’
Crediting the award to the members of Entrepreneurs’ Associates, Doulo said that they have worked hard.
‘When I went to the final interview, I was overwhelmed by the type of works that my other competitors were doing, which was immense,’ Doulo said. However, he said to have felt ‘at ease because the works that EA was doing was empowering even though it may not have had numbers by the lakh.’
Talking about the lives that EA has touched during its past 16 years, Doulo said they had become job providers, good community developers and changers.
Quashing the curiosity that the award may have come with a large sum of money, Doulo said ‘there was no cash award’. However, he said although there was no direct monetary benefit to the organization, some investors have shown interest about investing in this part of the region.
On the future, he said that the EA plans to expand to Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by this year. By December 2017, it hopes to ‘change the lives of 10,000 farmers as producers, thereby also creating about 20,000 better job opportunities for the youth of the state.’
Neichute Doulo will be representing the country at the World Economic Forum during January 2017 to be held at Davos in Switzerland.
Entrepreneurs’ Associates is the brainchild of Doulo, to empower the youths of Nagaland ‘to break out from the shackles of political instability’ and to create an economically-empowered and confident people.
The EA has set up NE India’s first incubator, accelerator and eco-system, a builder for local entrepreneurs. Over the past two decades, the venture has directly impacted 60,000 individuals across Nagaland and Manipur, putting them onto the path of wealth and value-creation.
EA has engaged 1, 150 faith-based organizations, national and private banks; the North East Development Finance Corporation, the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, and the Nagaland University to infuse capital of up to Rs. 150 crore ‘with 100% recovery.’
