In order to promote the culture of entrepreneurship and innovation here, Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) and Higher Education Department (HED) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in presence of Commissioner Secretary, Industries and Commerce (I&C), Manoj Kumar Dwivedi and Commissioner Secretary, HED, Talat Parvez Rohella to lend expertise and evolve the ecosystem of entrepreneurship and startup environment in the colleges of Jammu and Kashmir.The MoU was signed between Executive Director, JKEDI, GM Dar and Director Colleges J&K, Prof. M.Y Peerzada.Speaking on the occasion, Commissioner Secretary, I&C, Manoj Kumar Dwivedi said that the JKEDI has a pivotal role in the entrepreneurship development in Jammu and Kashmir as it provides a platform for the young educated youth to create livelihood opportunities for themselves as well as others.The Commissioner Secretary further added that this MoU will boost the entrepreneurship and startup ecosystem here as this will help us to establish entrepreneurship development cells, innovation and incubation centers in colleges besides a module of entrepreneurship course will also be offered in colleges with other degree programmes through this MoU.“This is a historical day for both the departments. We can share our expertise and build capacities among the stakeholders. This will benefit the students across the Union Territory. There is no dearth of talent and this partnership will provide ample exposure and the students face no difficulty in creating their own enterprises,” said M K Dwivedi.
In his address, Commissioner Secretary, HED, Talat Parvez Rohella said that JKEDI has mandate of creating entrepreneurship avenues in Jammu and Kashmir and by this collaboration between JKEDI and HED entrepreneurship courses will be started in colleges for the young generation who will be job creators than job seekers in coming times. “This MoU will bring in synergy between the departments and will help in knowledge sharing and creation of a new breed of Job creators. This step will provide a platform for budding entrepreneurs and will create end to end solutions. They will be exposed to options of angel funding, technical expertise to create prototype and help in up scaling and launching of the final product of startups,” said Talat Pervez. “Initially we will start with 14 colleges in the cities of Srinagar and Jammu and will subsequently expand to other regions of the Union Territory,” he added.In his welcome address, Executive Director, JKEDI, GM Dar highlighted the achievements of JKEDI in the field of entrepreneurship, adding that more that 14000 enterprises have been established in Jammu and Kashmir with active support of the institute having success rate of 90-95%. “This partnership will strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem of our Union Territory. JKEDI has an experience of more than 15 years in enterprise creation. Entrepreneurial education at college level will boost the startup culture and will nurture innovation at grass root levels,” said G M Dar.Pertinently through this collaboration, JKEDI will conduct awareness programs for the students across the colleges of J&K about various entrepreneurial schemes available as well as capacity building programs for aspiring entrepreneurs. The Institute will also conduct training programs for faculty and students of various colleges in Entrepreneurship Development, lend support to colleges for establishing Innovation and Incubation centres besides mentoring, and network support to the Start-ups will also be offered. JKEDI will also prepare Modules, Credit-based courses in Start-ups and entrepreneurship as well as conduct special classes for the colleges of HED. The Institute will also conduct idea challenges among students and offer mentoring for prototyping and commercializing the selected ideas of innovations and startups.