Arunachal to set up dedicated cell for women entrepreneurs: CM Khandu

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Friday announced that the state government will set up a dedicated Development Cell for women entrepreneurs with a seed capital of Rs 5 crore.

Speaking at the opening session of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) state workshop organised by NITI Aayog at the DK Convention Centre here, Khandu said the dedicated cell would function as a hub for woman entrepreneurs, providing access to mentorship, capacity building exercises, and other programmes beneficial for women-led startups.

The Centre will also run dedicated incubation and acceleration programmes for women, he said.

The Chief Minister rolled out five new initiatives under WEP -- ‘Supporting clean energy entrepreneurship through Atal Innovation Centre-SELCO Foundation partnership’; ‘Engendering growth for vibrant home-stay owners through the Maitri Programme in partnership with ‘Make-My-Trip’; 'NASSCOM Future Skills’, ‘Helpline for NE women entrepreneurs in collaboration with FICCI FLO'; and ‘BITS Pilani and Aditya Birla Foundation’s Women Entrepreneurs programme’.

These initiatives would be implemented by NITI Aayog in all the northeast states.

Lauding the NITI Aayog for the initiatives and conducting the one-day workshop for women entrepreneurs from the northeast, Khandu said that over the past seven years, his government has adopted a holistic approach to create an enabling environment for women entrepreneurs that includes multiple interventions such as policy support, monetary support through front-end subsidies, earmarking of schemes for women entrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs, etc.

Approximately 6,500 of more than 20,000 MSMEs in Arunachal Pradesh are owned by women, the Chief Minister informed.

Referring to the state's startup policy, spanning five years from its notification, Khandu said that under the policy, a minimum of one incubation centre will be established in the state.

Besides, he also informed that a special provision to support women entrepreneurs has been included in the Arunachal Pradesh Startup Policy 2022-23.

“We have mobilised more than 85,000 women into 9,301 SHGs (self-help groups), 951 PLFs (primary level federations) and 27 model CLFs (cluster level federations). We have also provided credit linkages to more than 2,900 SHGs and provided more than Rs 33 crore bank credit to SHGs,” he said.

Khandu also said that it is only when women rise and break free from the barriers that the nation witnesses the true potential of their limitless capabilities.

“Women-led development has always been the priority of the Government of India and the Arunachal government,” he said.

The new initiatives, Khandu believes, are poised to make a significant impact on the landscape of women entrepreneurship, providing avenues for skill development, mentorship and financial support.