The state-owned National Small Industries Corporation Ltd (NSIC) is in the process of expanding its scheme to train unemployed youth - Rapid Incubation for Entrepreneurship Development - to become entrepreneurs to more states and countries.
The model, which the company has used to develop around 300 successful entrepreneurs in Guwahati, has elicited interest from Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. NSIC may also launch the centres in a few African countries, said Ravindra Nath, its chairman and managing director.
NSIC started the model on a pilot basis four to five years ago and currently has eight of its own centres and 90 centres under the public-private partnership model, he said. It plans to expand the scheme to the university level, with young students being trained in entrepreneurship, Nath said.
"They are all simple, not very costly, easy to operate and rugged. They are something [with the help of which] a person after getting trained over a period of three months can set up their own enterprise," said Nath.
In Guwahati alone NSIC has created around 300 success stories. Tarun Gogoi, Assam's chief minister, had earlier said that he wanted NSIC to set up five centres outside Guwahati and one big centre in Guwahati. The state government will provide financial support for machinery and infrastructure.
NSIC signed a MoU with West Bengal to set up centres there, while Orissa and Madhya Pradesh also expressed interest in having similar centres. The chief minister of Uttarakhand said he wanted to engage NSIC for transforming 1,000 youth from job-seekers to job-providers, he said.
NSIC has also been sharing this model with other countries. The ministry of external affairs has asked NSIC to set up 10 incubation centres in 10 different African countries. It has set up centres in Ethiopia and Burundi, and will set up centres in other African countries in future.
It has set up a centre in Dakar, Senegal, where ex-servicemen who could not be redeployed in the Army are being trained. The output resulting from the training will be supplied to the military. The projects involve producing peanut paste, peanut oil, peanut butter, mango juice and tomato juice.
"We design these things depending upon the raw material available in that area and the aptitude of the people there. While we did all these agro-processing things in Senegal, the one which we are going to set up in Botswana will be different. The centre set up in South Africa is related to printing and general machinery pertaining to security, such as barbed wire used for fencing," Nath said.
Marketing of products by these small units is not as difficult as many think, he said. "We have 300 success stories from a small centre in Guwahati. These products can be sold spontaneously. You don't have that cost impact of a brand, but there are certain things which gradually become a brand," he said.
Funding for these small enterprises could be arranged through the National Skill Development Corporation, Nath added.
The model, which the company has used to develop around 300 successful entrepreneurs in Guwahati, has elicited interest from Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. NSIC may also launch the centres in a few African countries, said Ravindra Nath, its chairman and managing director.
NSIC started the model on a pilot basis four to five years ago and currently has eight of its own centres and 90 centres under the public-private partnership model, he said. It plans to expand the scheme to the university level, with young students being trained in entrepreneurship, Nath said.
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The rapid incubation model involves giving would-be entrepreneurs training in operating facilities such as soya milk plants, bread- and biscuit-making machines, tailoring outfits, oil extraction, grinding and packing machines, nail-making machines, paper napkin-making machines and toilet roll-making machines.
"They are all simple, not very costly, easy to operate and rugged. They are something [with the help of which] a person after getting trained over a period of three months can set up their own enterprise," said Nath.
In Guwahati alone NSIC has created around 300 success stories. Tarun Gogoi, Assam's chief minister, had earlier said that he wanted NSIC to set up five centres outside Guwahati and one big centre in Guwahati. The state government will provide financial support for machinery and infrastructure.
NSIC signed a MoU with West Bengal to set up centres there, while Orissa and Madhya Pradesh also expressed interest in having similar centres. The chief minister of Uttarakhand said he wanted to engage NSIC for transforming 1,000 youth from job-seekers to job-providers, he said.
NSIC has also been sharing this model with other countries. The ministry of external affairs has asked NSIC to set up 10 incubation centres in 10 different African countries. It has set up centres in Ethiopia and Burundi, and will set up centres in other African countries in future.
It has set up a centre in Dakar, Senegal, where ex-servicemen who could not be redeployed in the Army are being trained. The output resulting from the training will be supplied to the military. The projects involve producing peanut paste, peanut oil, peanut butter, mango juice and tomato juice.
"We design these things depending upon the raw material available in that area and the aptitude of the people there. While we did all these agro-processing things in Senegal, the one which we are going to set up in Botswana will be different. The centre set up in South Africa is related to printing and general machinery pertaining to security, such as barbed wire used for fencing," Nath said.
Marketing of products by these small units is not as difficult as many think, he said. "We have 300 success stories from a small centre in Guwahati. These products can be sold spontaneously. You don't have that cost impact of a brand, but there are certain things which gradually become a brand," he said.
Funding for these small enterprises could be arranged through the National Skill Development Corporation, Nath added.