Our Correspondent
KOHIMA OCTOBER 9
‘Entreprenuership is a key to economic development. Behind every developed society is the dynamic culture of entrepreneurship. A culture that consolidates and sustain established norms of production, explores and spearheads new and talent field of development. It creates more opportunity for an individual to exercise his/her creative freedom and have control over their own lives’ said Y Vikheho Swu, Minister for Roads and Bridges.He was addressing the august gathering of entrepreneurs in the business interface titled ‘Obsidian Nagaland 2015’ with the theme ‘You Can’ organised by the Entrepreneurs Associate at Hotel Vivor today.
He said the shrinking number of jobs availability in government sectors, and the failures of the youth to venture into news areas of entrpreneurships have certainly added to the unemployment problem faced by the state.
He appreciated the entrepreneurs for contributing to the society by bringing in new ideas of production as well as generating wealth and creating employment opportunities.
While stating that it is not enough in just providing loans to educated unemployed youth of our state, he said cooperation in the form of constructive inputs and suggestions for better implementation of policies for an established and specialised non governmental is sought and expected from the successful entrepreneurs who were present today.
He also said this business interface certainly conveys the passion and dedication of Entrepreneurs Associate to succeed against all odds. ‘Let us remember that no odds are insurmountable. I believe this assessment of entrepreneurial growth amounts the entrepreneurs launched and nurtured by the EA will certainly enable the associate to identify areas of concern, empower and participate to properly avail financial opportunities from banking sectors and other funding agencies and help the associations to develop a road map for future initiatives’ he stated.
Also addressing the entrepreneurs, MLA Merentoshi Jamir said gone are the days of freebies and the Nagas concept of free money, free grant by the goverbment. He said nagas must realise that we are living in the 21st century of give and take policy and we need to survive by supporting one another.
He also pointed out that government should not be looked upon as a source of employment, but rather as a facilitator for employment, stating that the state government has gone beyond the saturation point of government employments. ‘The only way forward is through entreprenurship and private sectors’ he added.
However, he also maintained that government should not just stop there but should be a platform, whereby the government should show the way by giving opportunities by opening up avenues. The government has got lot of resources to open up the ways for our young people, he pointed and said ‘we just need to know how to tap into that and here is where the entrepreneurs matter’.
‘Nations are directed by entrepreneurs and business houses, because nations are directed by economy’ he said and requested the entrepreneurs to give their inputs, try to encourage and lead the government on the path that the state should take, and added ‘If we can work into that tandem we can achived much more than what we have achieved today’.
‘Our generation has faced numerous challenges and one of the main challenges is owing to the Naga Political issue, we are a generation that has not known peace. We have grown up in the height of violence, yet today we have overcome those challenges inorder to establish overselves with our dreams and visions’ that is the biggest quality we as Nagas have, he said.
He also pointed out the one main weakness of the Nagas is living beyond our means without realising our resources and capabilities. He maintaing that we need to seriously work into that weakness by learning to replicate what we see from our experiences and also need to implement those things as per our local requirements.
In his keynote address Neichute Doulo CEO and Coordinator EA this programme has been organised ‘to find out if we can take home some new thinking with a clearer vision and perspective to help Nagaland grow in the coming years’.
While expressing pride on the success of the entrepreneurs for having sailed through the storm and becoming trailblazers and heroes in their own respective fields, he also urged that banks to start looking at Nagaland not just as a deposit hub, but as an investment destination.
He also strongly maintained that ‘as first generation entrepreneur we must to continue upscale the trust factor that we have among ourselves, and also with the banks.
We must continue to exemplify that we are not just business people but nation builders, and committed to take our society forward as part of our own success, and that challenge is to demonstrate that we impact nation building with our market leadership’.
He expressed hope that this proramme will propel the entrepreneurs to higher pedestal of business growth and nation building.
Dr Visier Sanyü, president, Overseas Naga Association speaking on the impact entrepreneurs can make to the nation said ‘we must all be free and authentic.
We need inner strength to speak what is right, and not bow down to threat of power’.
Later a business session on forging business opportunities beween entrepreneurs and financial institutes and interactive session was also held.
