Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday pitched the state as an incubator for promoting entrepreneurship in Punjab, lauding the MoU signed by the Industries Department with an Australian company to incubate 50 social impact entrepreneurs by 2020, that will collaboratively transform 10 million lives before 2025.The Memorandum of Understanding, which the Chief Minister welcomed as a great initiative to promote entrepreneurship in the state, was signed by Industries & Commerce Secretary Rakesh Verma with Param Singh, Director of Goodles Pty Ltd, Australia, on the sidelines of the 3rd TiECon 2018 here.Under the MoU, signed in the presence of Captain Amarinder, the Australian company will set up four monsoon impact incubators with 50 social start-ups at a proposed investment of Rs 5 crore and employment potential of over 1000.Delivering the key-note address on the first day of the two-day TiECon event, the Chief Minister said the state’s first-of-its-kind social impact incubator would encourage women social entrepreneurs and will aim to have a balance gender parity among its incubates.The incubator will assist the social entrepreneurs (including from Tier 2 and 3 cities of Punjab – first in Amritsar) to Collaborate and Network with highly qualified and successful mentors from around the globe, including travelling to Australia, Singapore, U. S., Canada, U.K, Hong Kong, etc. It will help them grow by providing access to finance (Capital) from the growing global impact investment funds.
Punjabis are entrepreneurial by nature and that remains our biggest advantage, Captain Amarinder said, adding that Punjab had a huge potential in leading the next wave of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country. The conducive environment prevailing in the state would act as an incubator for new entrepreneurs willing to set up new ventures and industrial units, he said, pitching Punjab as the next most-favoured investor friendly destination.Captain Amarinder urged the young entrepreneurs, whom he described as the harbingers of growth, to come and explore the exciting investor supportive environment in Punjab and set up more industrial units here. Assuring them of proactive government support and assistance, the Chief Minister said innovation and entrepreneurship were crucial for the growth of economy, and with the launch of the Industrial and Business Development policy, the roots of an authentic start-up ecosystem had been strengthened in the state. Further, he said that with the launch of Punjab Startup Hub in Mohali, Punjab was now gradually emerging as a fertile ground for start-ups to grow and thrive.
The Chief Minister pointed out Punjab now offers the cheapest and most affordable power to the industry at Rs. 5 per unit. “We have successfully addressed most of the concerns in the new Industrial policy and would further strengthen the ecosystem to attract more industry,” he added. The upgraded air transport connectivity at Chandigarh Airport would further bolster the industrial growth in the entire region, he said.The job creation resulting from the industrial development would act as a catalyst for the unemployed youth, which was the only way to prevent them from falling prey to drugs and crime, said Captain Amarinder.Noting that skill development was the means to achieve the desired long-term goal of providing gainful employment to youth, Captain Amarinder said Punjab would soon have a Skill University. He further said that he had already issued instructions to the 125 ITIs to double up as skill development centres from 4:30 to 9 PM every day.Prominent among those who attended the event were Media Advisor to CM Raveen Thukral, Principal Secretary to CM Tejveer Singh, Secretary Industries & Commerce Rakesh Verma, President TiECon Chandigarh Alok Ramsisaria, Dean ISB Mohali Raj Srivastav, and Chair TiECon Chandigarh I S Paul.