Skip to content Skip to navigation

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.

Add new comment

Random Stories

Blast at Jorhat at 6.45 PM on Tuesday

7 Aug 2007 - 12:26pm | editor
Jorhat : There was a bomb blast at Jorhat in front of Sadar Police station at 6.45 PM on Tuesday evening. The bomb was planted in a pan shop. Total 3 people have been killed, 18 are injured, out of...

Cong candidate hits out at CMSS

23 Mar 2014 - 5:19pm | AT News
Koliabor Congress candidate Gaurav Gogoi has dared CMSS to challenge his affidavits before the Election Commission.Gogoi’s sharp reaction came a day after the student body alleged that the chief...

Seat 14; aspirants 138

19 Jan 2014 - 10:01am | AT News
Assam Congress in deep grip of poll mood. Altogether 138 candidates are waiting to contest from 14 Lok Sabha polls. Rajiv Bhawan sources told assamtimes that Guwahati seat gets maximum 18 aspirants....

Presence of Vibrant Assam at Greater Noida

20 Aug 2007 - 2:26pm | moushumibhattacharya
Assam's presence was felt by one and all at Ishan Institute of management and Technology, Greater Noida (Dt. Gautam Budh Nagar) Uttar Pradesh by a beautiful performance of Bihu Dance by assamese...

Other Contents by Author

Migration and human rights issues of the NE raised in UN

The Committee on Racial Discrimination under Urgent Action and Early Warning Procedure dated August 15th 2008, recommended India to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (CERD/C/IND/CO/19). India was asked to submit the report latest by December 31st 2008, but the report is still awaited.  Presenting his statement on the Violation of International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination during the 36th Regular Session of Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, Pankaj Jyoti Hazarika, Chief Functionary of NGO Prahar said, “Most of human rights violation issues in Northeast especially in Assam are caused by the inadequate measurement and negligent attitude...

Nazira boy selected for Goa Badminton Tournament

Nazira boy, Tanmoy Boruah is all set to particpate in the All India Sub Junior Ranking Badminton Tournament to be held in Goa beginning October 9. Tanmoy is currently the All India Ranking 2 player. He trains with coach Alok Boruah in the Ruhiteswar Saikia Memorial Indoor Stadium in Nazira.

Restore Chakma-Hajong rights: Civil body to government

The present imbroglio on the Chakma-Hajong Rights issue is a reflection of monumental failure and mismanagement by the government. Civil organizations urge restoration of all rights to vulnerable Chakmas and Hajongs without further delay as 90 per cent of them are already citizens by birth and hence the restoration of Citizenship Rights is out of question. Right Cause, an organization working for the marginalized and vulnerable tribal groups is concerned with the continuing denial and deprivation of legitimate democratic rights of the Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh. The issue of citizenship in Arunachal Pradesh is a fall out of the anti-foreigner agitation in Assam and is...

​​APCC slams Mukesh Sahay

APCC Vice President, Debabrata Saikia in a communiqué stated that, “It is unbecoming of a DGP to make a statement that the undergoing of arms training by the RSS is not a violation of law and is done purportedly to appease the RSS.”Such training which create tensions, animosity and hatred between communities besides encouraging divisive forces, if not construed an offence, what else would it be, he questioned.He said, “If the Chief Secretary, who is the Administrative Head of the Government, has to brief the RSS on Government development works, it is natural for the DGP to follow suit.”The communiqué went on to say that Assam Police has failed to identify and arrest the murderers of ABMSU...

EHA completes Phase II of Assam Flood Relief

Every year dynamic monsoon induced flooding coupled with flash floods cause immense loss to life and property in Assam which falls in the highest rainfall intensity zone in the country. With a total of 5531.41 hectares of crop land affected, Mayong, Laharighat and Bhuragaon Revenue Circles in Morigaon district in Assam are still enlisted under flood affected areas by the State Disaster Management Authority.  Seasonal flooding and erosion has inundated several revenue villages and have given rise to massive internal displacement in Morigaon forcing flood survivors to occupy forest lands. Human populations, school infrastructures, grazing animals and poultry are equally facing the...

DPS bags WWF Wild Wisdom title

A number of one hundred and thirty one teamsfrom 70 schools of North East India came together to vie for the title of North East Champions at the city-level finals of the Wild Wisdom Quiz 2017 held in the city recently. Runninginto its tenth year, the Wild Wisdom Quiz is the biggest wildlife quiz for school students in Asia and the only one of its kind in India. Organized by WWF-India the quiz was supported by Discovery Kids and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).  Some 4170 students from Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh participatedthis season,besides, one wild card entry winning team from North East according to Archita Baruah...

KSO lobbies for KAAC representation

The Kuki Students’ Organisation (KSO) and Karbi Anglong District committee, called on the Chief Executive Member, KAAC, Tuliram Ronghang at his official residence Wednesday in connection with the representation submitted by the Kuki civil bodies on July 7, 2017 at his office chamber in the subject matter of one government nominated KAAC seat out of four, in respect of their projected candidate for the 12th KAAC term (2017 – 2021).  The delegates reminded him in writing to actively consider their projected candidate so as to enable the representation of the unrepresented Kuki Tribes in the KAAC for peace and all-round development of the Kuki community in particular and Karbi Anglong as...

State Government declares pension for journalists

The Government of Assam Sunday declared Journalist Pension to twenty senior journalists of the state for the first time under the Assam Pension Scheme for Journalists.  The selected journalists are: Benoy Bhusan Sen (Dhubri), Rama Sankar Rai (Kamrup Metro), Prema Dhar Sarma (Kamrup Metro), Garga Ram Barman (Kamrup Metro), Naren Hazarika (Kamrup Metro), Probodh Ch. Bordoloi (Kamrup Metro), Krishna Ch. Kalita (Kamrup Metro), Ratneswar Talukdar (Barpeta), Amal Kumar Gupta (Kamrup Metro), Devendra Kumar Pandey (Lakhimpur), Ajit Kr. Patwary (Kamrup Metro), Goverdhan Prashad Atal (Jorhat), Nirupama Borah (Lakhimpur), Pramod Kumar Singh (Jorhat), Dharani Kalita (Kamrup Metro), Bhakti Ram Roy...

Kaziranga celebrates World Elephant Day

The Corbett Foundation, Kaziranga Chapter in association with the Kaziranga National Park authorities celebrated World Elephant Day at Bokakhat today. World Elephant Day is an international annual event dedicated to the preservation and protection of the world's elephants. The first World Elephant Day was held on August 12, 2012. Assam is home to over 5000 wild elephants. The event was organised in front of Bokakhat Natya Mandir where eminent artists of Kaziranga landscape demonstrated their skills and imagination with brush on canvases as large as 4 ft x16 ft on issues like poaching for tusks, habitat loss and deforestation. Dr. Naveen Pandey, a conservation medicine professional and...

NE DGP’s conference concludes

The 24th Conference of the Directors General of Police Forces of the North Eastern Region and Heads of Police Central Organizations concluded Thursday June 30, after two days of deliberations on a range of security issues concerning the region. The conference was prominently attended by Directors General of Police from all the seven North Eastern States, DG Assam Rifles, representatives from West Bengal Police and Heads of Central Police Organizations in the region. The Governor of Assam presided over the valedictory function and shared his views with participants. He expressed satisfaction over the improving security scenario in the North East but reminded the participants about...