DIMAPUR, NOVEMBER 18 : The biggest misconception about business and entrepreneurship in Nagaland is that one has to engage in shady deals in order to be a successful businessman.
This insight was shared by the executive editor of Eastern Mirror K Wapong Longkumer at the first ever management fest to be organised at C-Edge College, Dimapur on Friday. According to him, the natural reaction – especially among the older generation – was to assume that businesses in Nagaland could thrive only through unfair deals.
As the guest speaker at the management fest, he told the students this was where their integrity and accountability come into play. “There should be no compromise on your integrity and accountability. People should be able to trust you – your clients and the bank people.”
He said that it was necessary to strike this balance between integrity and the pursuit of entrepreneurial profit. Not all management students, he reminded, could become entrepreneurs, but they could be managers at established companies.
“Without patience and perseverance, all your skills will go to waste,” Longkumer shared, while stating that management students must acquire troubleshooting skills. “You should be able to solve problems at work,” he advised.
He also advised them to identify their sources of motivation and take calculated entrepreneurial risks. “Especially for management students, you must be able to take initiatives.”
Reminding that only 29% of the total population of Nagaland was urban residents, he said it the aspiring entrepreneurs could not focus only on this group of population. “Nagaland is primarily a rural state and 70% of our people are in the villages. We have to focus on this rural population, if we are to succeed,” he told the students.
Longkumer also reminded the students that quality has become the prime-requisite these days. In the past years, through reservation policies Nagas could find employments across various sectors but today “today it is difficult unless you have the quality”, he shared.
As such, he said, it was extremely important for the students to be efficient. Efficiency, he shared, was not simply about accomplishing things but being able to finish things within the shortest period of time. “When it comes to volume (of work/assignment/demand), efficiency is very important.”
Longkumer also advised the students not to waste their time trying to solve problems that were beyond their control. “Focus and spend your energy on things that you can do.” The students, he said, must learn to strike the balance between contentment and complacency.
Five colleges – Pranabananda Women’s College, St Joseph College Kohima, Mt Mary College, Tetso College and Dimapur Government College – besides the host college are participating in the management fest, entitled ‘Aspire.’
According to the principal of C-Edge College, Dr Chubatola Aier, most students in Nagaland were still reluctant to pursue management courses. Her observation, she said, was that the problem was not with the students but the parents.
“The parents themselves are not encouraging their children to study management,” she felt. In Nagaland there are only three colleges that offer management courses: C-Edge College and ICFAI University at Dimapur and St Joseph’s College at Kohima.
