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Boost for Assam youth entrepreneurship

By Syed Miraz Ahmed |

The U.S. Consulate General, Kolkata in collaboration with social enterprise Contact Base, is launching a youth entrepreneurship initiative – Y4BIZ (Youth for Business) in four cities Guwahati, Patna, Ranchi and Kolkata. The program in Guwahati took place in association with the local organization, Startup Assam.

The Y4BIZ program aims to support a promising group of 50 young entrepreneurs, and transform their business ideas from the initial stage to a sustainable business model.

The 50 entrepreneurs will be selected by a rigorous screening process after the launch events in all four cities. This will be followed by an online capacity building and mentoring program run by the IC2 Institute, University of Texas, Austin. A group of ten mentors will also be selected to be trained at the Nexus Incubator Hub, which is housed inside the American Center in New Delhi.

Finally, the top 10 business ideas will be showcased before industry leaders, investors and policy makers; to celebrate entrepreneurship and recognize the youth leaders in 2018.

The Director of the American Center and Public Affairs Officer of the U.S. Consulate General Kolkata Jamie Dragon said, “Youth entrepreneurship development is a proven strategy that positively impacts the lives of young people. This project seeks to foster a culture of entrepreneurship in eastern India and to strengthen linkages between American and Indian youth leaders.”

This initiative is launched during the celebration of the November 13-17 Global Entrepreneurship Week, and is part of a series of activities leading up to the upcoming Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) that is scheduled for November 28-30.

The Director of Nexus in New Delhi American Centre, Erik Azulay mentions.

Suman Mukhopadhyay, Director & Vice President (Finance & Strategy) of Contact Base mentioned, “An entrepreneurs' journey is a journey of loneliness. For first generation early stage entrepreneurs this can be a daunting challenge to surmount. If one is attempting to start an enterprise in the eastern region of India, odds are stacked too unfavorably.”

The next Y4BIZ launch event is scheduled for November 16 in Patna.

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