[caption id="attachment_74794" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Chairman and Managing Director of NEDFi, BP Muktieh (second from left), along with NEDFi and EA officials during the Business Meet in Kohima on September 16.[/caption]
KOHIMA, SEPTEMBER 16: Secretary of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Naveen Verma, appealed the entrepreneurs to give priority and target goods that are locally consumed as those items constitute the strength of the State.
Speaking at the Business Meet organised by North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (NEDFi) and Entrepreneurs Associates (EA) on the theme “Championing the entrepreneurial spirit of the northeast” on September 16, the Secretary citing the non existence of any resort between the Kohima-Dimapur road and Kohima-Pfustero road and suggested focusing on tourism to economically benefit the people.
Citing the visible increase of entrepreneurs and the changed notion of giving priority to government jobs, he said things are changing in the entrepreneurial area. Handicrafts, fashion designing, industries, tourism like setting up of home stays, IT, agriculture, and use of bamboo were some of the areas he suggested where entrepreneurs can create opportunities. With all information available on internet, he said people can collect necessary data and information for their business and draft a plan feasible to them. He looked forward for more entrepreneurs to come up in the future.
Chairman and Managing Director of NEDFi, BP Muktieh, addressing at the meet, said the partnership with EA and the purpose of such meet was to reach out to many districts and enlarge their network to more people. Seeing the prospect of the state, he hoped more business facilitators like EA would open door to entrepreneurs to expand their business.
With the objective of industrial development in the north eastern states, he said venture capital will provide financial assistance to entrepreneurs to set up their business. He said it is not an open ended scheme adding assistance will be provided for ten years with a possible extension of 2 years after which they can buy back the shares when the company is well established with no interest burden.
Besides financial assistance, Muktieh said venture capital will also have business facilitators who will assist and advice on financial matters and making of the project report and plans. He concluded by saying that venture capital will be very good scheme for the first generation entrepreneurs by offering more flexibility than what banks offer.
RE Zeliang, Deputy General Manager NEDFi, explained that NEDFi in association with Ministry of DoNER initiated the launch of ‘North East Venture Fund” with the aim to provide financial assistance by way of loan to first generation entrepreneurs. The various services for financial assistance included North East Entrepreneurs Development Scheme (NEEDS), NEDFi Opportunity Scheme for Small Enterprise (NOSSE), Women Enterprise Development Scheme (WEDS), Scheme for North East Handloom and Handicrafts (SNEHH) and others. He said the scheme will be launched by the end of October after registration with SEBI. He said financial assistance will include a minimum of Rs 25 lakhs and maximum of Rs 100 crores and advised that applicants need to have a good business plan to avail the scheme.
In his speech EA Coordinator and CEO, N Doulo, spoke on how the association with NEDFi will be progressive and that it will make a quality impact in Nagaland through good financial schemes available.
Susan James from EA chaired the programme and said the welcome address, while felicitation was led by K Jianthailung, NEDFi Branch Manager, and vote of thanks was delivered by Nimeyiel Richa, NEDFi, Dimapur Branch Manager.
