The North East Entrepreneurship Development Program (NEEDP) is organising the North East Entrepreneurship Challenge to uplift entrepreneurs across eight North East India states.
The hunt would select 270 entrepreneurs representing each state and support them to commercialise their businesses. They would get grants worth Rs 7.5 crore. NEEDP is a project of the North Eastern Council (NEC) in association with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park aimed at forming an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in the NorthEast region.
As part of the challenge, support would be available for both the ‘pre-incubation group’ and the ‘incubation group.’
In the incubation category, a commercialisation grant worth Rs 3 lakh will be given to 120 startups. The top 20 performers will receive Rs 7 lakhs. In the pre-incubation group, 150 startups will get a prototype grant of Rs 1 lakh with an additional Rs 4 lakhs for the top 25 performers.
The selected candidates will get a chance to connect with experienced entrepreneurs, angel investors, and senior corporate managers. IIMC faculty, alumni, ecosystem partners, and domain experts will share their knowledge with the participants at the boot camps and knowledge sessions.
Registration for the challenge is open. The last date for application is November 21, 2022. Shortlisted candidates would be announced in December 2022 and the events would unfold in December 2022 and January 2023. All applicants must be Indian citizens and permanent residents in one of the eight North East states. In the incubation category, at least one of the team members should work full-time on the business.
Visit https://www.iimcip.com/needp/ for more details
