National Entrepreneurship Awards 2017

Embarking
on an ambitious mission to empower Indian youth with skill training and
employability, the Ministry of Skill Development & entrepreneurship
(MSDE)today hosted the National entrepreneurship Awards 2017 marking the
completion of three glorious years of its inception today.  The awards were
conferred in the august presence of Minister of finance and Minister of
Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of Petroleum and Natural gas and
Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan,
Ambassador of Japan to India Shri Kenji Hiramatsu, Secretary MSDE Dr K.P
Krishnan and Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank Ltd Ms Chanda Kochhar.

Congratulating
all the entrepreneurs recognized by MSDE this year and highlighting the
challenges of limited job creation capacity, Minister of Finance and Corporate
Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley said, “India has a much younger Population versus
other advance economies. This is a huge opportunity for us to scale up and
skill our workforce and reap our demographic dividend and service economies.
Conventionally our focus was on awarding degrees with always a debate on how we
link them to jobs. Over a period of time we have realised that we need to skill
our youth for these jobs.”

He
further added “Conventionally people were skilled according to their
communities but as economies develop and there is advent of technology, we need
to realize the importance of reskilling and upskilling, to bridge the demand
supply gap. As the economy expands, a specialized skilled workforce is the need
to the hour. “

“The
Strength of India’s economy will be entrepreneurship. We have to ensure that we
do not restrict the youth. We let them unleash their energy, allow them to move
away from the beaten track and build new ideas for the new India,” he further
added.

Speaking
on the occasion Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, said, “India has
become an Emerging Market for global investors and entrepreneurship can majorly
contribute to the country’s economy. Skill development and entrepreneurship
form the basis for the growth of any country. Our endeavour is to empower our
youth and equip them with the right skill sets and create a conducive
environment to help them build sustainable business solutions/model. In the
years to come, entrepreneurship will be the key to attain a double-digit GDP.”

“A
stable business environment, market-oriented reforms like raising of FDI caps,
implementation of GST, and key initiatives like Make In India, Mudra Yojana,
Stand up India and Start Up India are encouraging aspiring and ambitious
Indians. The youth should leverage them,” he further added.

Sharing
his message MoS MSDE Shri Anantkumar Hegde said, “For thousands of years, the
nation’s economy was run on what our people made or produced with their hands –
be it clothing from weavers or items from potters and blacksmiths or produce
from farmers. All these were based on the inherent entrepreneurship
capabilities of the people of our great land. It is this entrepreneurial spirit
the Government aims to tap into and bring the best out of our people. To
achieve this goal, numerous programs have been launched encouraging
entrepreneurship, including funding programs and other initiatives that can
handhold entrepreneurs during the early years.”               

The
National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) was instituted by MSDE in 2016 to
encourage a culture of entrepreneurship across the country. This year the
second edition of awards were conducted which saw participation from 2880
applicants out of which 45 were shortlisted; and finally 15 winners across
defined categories, were announced and awarded. Winners were given a cash award
of Rs 5 lakh (enterprises and individuals) and Rs. 10 lakhs
(organizations/institutes) along with a certificate and trophy recognizing
their efforts of being the change agents in India’s development.

The
foundation day ceremony was well attended by senior delegates from the
ministry, members of the Skill Sector Councils, leaders from Corporate India;
successful and budding entrepreneurs among others.

On
this occasion, National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF) Manuals were
released by National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) which will provides the
benchmarks or quality criteria which the different organizations involved in
education and training must meet in order to be accredited to provide education
and training/skills activities.

Further,
to encourage development of entrepreneurial skills among school students,
course module on entrepreneurship was released for class IX and X.   Capturing
success stories of entrepreneurs who have walked the extra mile to initiate
positive changes, a compilation handbook ‘Swalamban ki Ore’ was also jointly
released by National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business
Development (NIESBUD) and Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE).

NATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARD 2017

List of Winners

(a)    Award Track

(b)   Recognition Track

Champions
of Change

Champions of Change
under Directorate General Training (DGT) ecosystem: (Long Term Skill
Development)

Champions of change
under National Skill Development Corporation ecosystem: (Short Term Skill
Development)

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AD/SA