Purvasa Majumdar
Startup businesses in Assam are leveraging latest techno- logy to build smart and viable solutions to accelerate social impact in the state. The scenario is similar in several other states of India as well. Startup businesses are gaining momentum in creating a change all across the state. With a group of youth geared up with enthusiasm and prospects of a change in the world of business, Startup ideas are growing up by manifolds. A larger part of the state’s economy is witnessing an increasing amount of change with a gradual decline in the prolonged problem of unemployment. A number of people are emerging as start up founders and scaling up their business ideas to heights eventually.
In this process, the state’s socio-economic scenario is witnessing a laudable amount of change. Several youth are now seemingly taking up to work on their ideas and creating business opportunities for not only themselves but also others who are looking for some sort of an employment. Depression, anxiety, frustration and various other mental illnesses which are triggered by joblessness, financial incapability, poverty are comparatively taking the downslide with the rise in startup businesses. Startup founders in the state have started setting up their business ideas in the fields of Tea, fast food restaurants, education and training centres, bakery, grocery and FMCG stores, local handloom, tourism, interior designing and decoration, Yoga and fitness, fish farming, etc. If you are a resident of Assam or happen to pay a visit to the state, you should not be surprised anymore if you come across a handful of youth engrossed in setting up tea stalls on the roadside, running fast food restaurants on wheels, providing coaching to students, giving fitness trainings, opening up a boutique for ethnic products or selling home-made pickles, rice cakes and other self made edibles.
Assam is at its height of Ease of Doing Business. This means that starting a business in Assam is much easier and faster than it earlier was. The state has shown growth in various areas. These include areas such as tea production, petrochemicals, food processing, personal care products, handloom, and others. While speaking of Assam, we also need to keep in mind that Assam is rich in its natural resources like coal, limestone, water, and much more. Assam has flourishing industries which are getting further boost by the technology revolution. With the help of this growth, Assam is ready to nurture the mega employers of the future.
To boost up the start up founders in the state, the government of Assam has been playing a major and significant role. Start up businesses in the state would not have gained ground without the aid of the Assam Startup policy founded in the year 2017. The state government of Assam established a number of incubation centres as part of the policy to aid in the establishment of atleast 1,000 new entrepreneurs during the ensuing years. The Assam Government aims to create an ecosystem for start-ups in Assam and to establish Assam as the entrepreneurial hub of Northeast India. The Assam Startup policy primarily focuses on generating employment, nurturing start-ups in the initial stage, and stimulating Startup culture in the state.
To put in Elon Musk’s words, “If you want to create a company, it’s like baking a cake. You have to have all the ingredients in the right proportion.” Startup founders in the state are exactly following this. Although they start with a minimal level of expectation of speedy financial growth or response from their consumers, yet they are emerging as change makers.
Although the Startup movement in Assam has started late but its progress is not slow. In last one-and-a-half years, it has picked up tremendous pace generating much hope and opening new income opportunities for the youth. The progress that is unfolding is very promising. The success of the entrepreneurs of the State is a strong testimony of their innovative ideas that have immense potential to position Assam more visibly in global market. However, to sustain this tempo, “Assam Startup – The Nest” will have to continue handholding the startups with right kind of business knowledge and better networking. It must become a single-point window to realize the entrepreneurial dreams of all the aspiring startups and entrepreneurs of the State.
