On a Mission for Equitable Economic Development and Inclusive Growth

Apart from extending financial assistance, NEDFi undertakes various activities to spread the entrepreneurship spirit in the region. These activities include mentoring assistance to first generation entrepreneurs through Business Facilitation Centres (BFC), capacity building programmes for NGOs/ MFIs, business meets for dissemination of information on NEDFi's schemes and programmes, state-specific SME project profiles, skill upgradation programmes for artisans and vocational trainings for self-employment, facilitating marketing support through exhibition participation etc. 

What are some of the recent initiatives that NEDFi has undertaken to promote entrepreneurship in the north east? You could please refer to the recent /latest MOUs in this regard.

NEDFi has been playing the role of the key driver of equitable economic development and inclusive growth through promotion of micro and small enterprises and microfinance sectors. It will continue to focus towards the entrepreneurship development of the region through its various initiatives and also focus on special programmes for the upliftment of socially vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and the backward and remote regions. Mention may be made of its microfinance and MSE schemes, capacity building programmes and marketing linkages etc in this respect.

Apart from extending financial assistance, NEDFi undertakes various activities to spread the entrepreneurship spirit in the region. These activities include mentoring assistance to first generation entrepreneurs through Business Facilitation Centres (BFC), capacity building programmes for NGOs/ MFIs, business meets for dissemination of information on NEDFi's schemes and programmes, state-specific SME project profiles, skill upgradation programmes for artisans and vocational trainings for self-employment, facilitating marketing support through exhibition participation etc.

Some recent initiatives undertaken are -

1) New Schemes have been launched to assist micro entrepreneurs, artisans, tea growers, self-employed professionals and doctors. Besides, a new scheme has been launched to meet the working capital requirement of the micro entrepreneurs. A Business Correspondence Model was launched to extend direct finance to the micro entrepreneurs from the remote/ un-served/ under-served areas of the region at cheaper rates

2) New branches were opened at various locations for extending financial assistance at unserved and underserved areas of the region.

3) Single window online loan application was launched in NEDFi's web portal (www.nedfi.com);

4) The North East Venture Fund expanded its activities to encourage the start up ventures in the region and become a role model for other venture capitalists to invest in the region. The state governments of the region have formulated 'Start up Policies' to foster entrepreneurship and promote innovation by creating and enabling eco-system. The state governments and CPSEs of the region are showing interest to work with NEDFi to further promote start up ventures in the region.

5) Under the aegis of North Eastern Council, NEDFi launched a "one stop solution" web portal for career and livelihood titled "Advancing North East." The portal aims to facilitate informed career decisions by the students, job seekers and entrepreneurs of the north-eastern region and improve their competitiveness at the national and global level.

6) NEDFi signed a MoU with Federation of Industries of North-Eastern Region (FINER) for promoting and nurturing entrepreneurship, generating employment and empowering the weaker sections.

7) Recently, NEDFi and Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), signed a MOU with the objective to promote investment in the region and undertake various initiatives for entrepreneurship development in the region. The MoU will provide a platform for the entrepreneurs of NER, especially in micro and small enterprise segment to avail the initiatives of NEDFi.

What have been some of NEDFi's flagship initiatives in terms of rural development?

The "NEDFi Micro Finance Scheme" was launched by the Corporation to assist the grass-root small borrowers in un-served and under-served areas (rural areas) of the North Eastern Region. Through the Scheme, NEDFi provides micro credit to Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) of the region for on-lending to low income individuals for carrying out various income generating activities in farm and non-farm sectors.

NEDFi has also launched NEDFi Micro Lending Scheme in order to provide financial assistance to the micro borrowers directly, through business correspondents, at cheaper rate.

Apart from the above, NEDFi has undertaken various initiatives to promote entrepreneurship in the region, especially the unserved and underserved locations, including rural areas. Some of them are mentioned below-

Business Meet: NEDFi organises business meets on each NE states for dissemination of information on various schemes and programmes of the corporation.

Business Facilitation Centre: NEDFi's Business Facilitation Centres in all the NE States provides mentoring assistance to the first generation entrepreneurs on managerial, technical and financial aspects. They are also mentored and trained with respect to commercials and marketing, preparation of project reports and credit linkages.

Capacity building training to NGOs/ MFIs in microfinance: NEDFi assists Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) by conducting capacity building programmes on risk management, operation management, systems and processes, financial management, human resource management, etc. The capacity building programme is a continuous exercise and to cope up with the changes and developments in the sector, the functionaries and staff of MFIs need to continuously upgrade their knowledge and skill sets.

Sustainable livelihood programmes: NEDFi undertakes various initiatives to organise programmes on various trades for providing alternative sustainable livelihood to the artisans. For instance in water hyacinth craft, in the handloom and handicraft sectors, etc. The objective of conducting such programmes is to ensure that the participants are able to learn successful strategies and acquire appropriate tools for self/ wage employment. By learning all this they will also be able to contribute towards poverty alleviation of their community.

Marketing support: NEDFi provides marketing support to the artisans of NER through exhibition participation in its various showrooms at Guwahati and Khetri in Assam, Aizwal in Mizoram, IEML, Greater Noida and Mahabalipuram in Chennai.

Likewise what have been your key initiatives (past and ongoing) in terms of rural development and the textile sector?

Apart from above initiatives, NEDFi launched "Atmanirbhar Hastshilpkar Scheme (AHS)" for the artisans, in order to develop the textile sector in the region. The main objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance in the form of term loans for income generating activities in the handloom and handicraft sector.

What have been some of your pioneering initiatives in terms of attracting investments to the north eastern region?

NEDFi had organised a Startup Investment Festival during 2022 to provide a platform to local entrepreneurs to showcase their business ideas and to pitch for investment for scaling up their businesses. It helped them avail other facilities like handholding support, advisor network, investor network, marketing support etc.

The North East Venture Fund (NEVF), the first and only dedicated Venture Fund for the North East Region, targets to invest in startups and unique business opportunities from the region or focused towards the region. NEVF has assisted various sectors for investment, such as agriculture and food processing, health care, biotechnology, IT& ITES, aggregation of services, tourism, food processing, industrial products etc.

NEVF has been engaging with multiple local stakeholders in the startup ecosystem including incubators/accelerators, startup offices of state governments in the region, management institutes and industry associations. NEVF has been acting as an enabler to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship and thereby contribute towards creation of the eco-system required for nurturing and development of startups and early-stage companies in the region.

The fund has been organising various business summits and workshops to reach the entrepreneurs and startups from all the states of the region. The fund has also established a strong network with all the leading incubators managed by top business schools of the country which include (but is not limited to) CIIE of IIM, Ahmadabad, NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park etc. As a key player from NE Start up ecosystem, NEVF has partnership with all the key players of startup ecosystem of the country which has helped the Fund to adopt the best practices of the industry and apply them to meet its desired objectives.

Recently NEDFi has been part of conclaves on New Age Careers. Please elaborate on some new age careers that can support the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the coming years? How can academic institutions encourage entrepreneurship?

The New Age Career conclave was organised by the Advancing North East initiative of NEC and NEDFi. The entrepreneurial ecosystem of North East needs to be equipped with new age skills. Some of them are data science, artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain technology, augmented reality, digital marketing, social media content development, different domains of design etc.

Academic institutions can encourage entrepreneurship by creation of strong partnership with the industries. What we learn in class room needs to be aligned with the needs of the industry. The incubators of North East that are operating at the academic institutions need intense focus for on-boarding more industry professionals as mentors. The academic institutions can also play a huge role in providing guidance to the entrepreneurs in terms of business compliance, accounting etc. which has limited professionals especially in the interior locations of the region.

Can you elaborate of any special initiatives for developing an entrepreneurial culture among the tribal communities? Many tribal forms of art and craft have been dying out over the decades as there are no patrons.

NEDFi, in its continual effort to foster entrepreneurial culture among tribal communities, has compiled state specific project profiles on micro and small enterprises, which covers potential investment sectors in the state and resource-based and demand-based project profiles viable for the state. Each project profile provides an overview of the business opportunities, market potentiality, technical know-how, financial aspects, address of machinery suppliers etc.

The major challenge faced by NEDFi in promoting the artisans in handloom and handicraft sector is the marketing. There is a need of direct intervention, to ensure better income to the beneficiaries by marketing their produce and making their products competitive through innovation, skill upgradation and adoption of appropriate tools and technologies. In view of this, NEDFi has promoted a society namely North East Society for Handicraft Incubation & Livelihood Promotion (NE-SHILP) to undertake various activities like training programme in natural fibre (water hyacinth, bamboo, banana fibre etc.), natural dye and other vocational skills, capacity building, design development of products, marketing support to artisans in NEDFi's various outlets as well as in national and international fairs.All segments of population, vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and women, including tribal areas of NER, have been benefitted by the Society.

Also Read: A Woman Who is all about Music, Conversations and Energy Healing

Also Watch: