Dentist Ishtiyaq Ahmed Khan is 47. Having worked with the Guwahati-based B Barooah Cancer Institute in his early life, he left in search of greener pastures to the Middle East. He devoted 10 years of his life and then felt the calling of Assam’s land, environment, and its people.
He returned and started his dental practice in Guwahati. “I felt that the climate in Assam is no longer the same. It is changing far too rapidly for our comfort. Since I had lived amidst nature in my childhood, I felt a strong urge to start a nursery, with a difference. Coincidentally, my chamber was very near to Nest, the headquarters of the Assam Startup. Recently, I saw a poster announcing a Startup Fest 2023. I felt it was Godsend. I have registered myself, and am looking forward to a profitable interaction,” Khan told Asom Barta just prior to the start of the Fest.
It is for the likes of the Khans that The Assam Startup Fest has assumed immense importance. The entrepreneurial instincts, which have an uncanny knack of sprouting out of nowhere, is now driving entrepreneurs like Monalisa Borthakur and Debojit Deka to the Fest not only to explore but also to encourage fellow entrepreneurs with their success stories.
Monalisa is the proprietor of Amby Gold Manorama Foods Private Limited and has registered for the Fest. “We are in the business of indigenous functional food products which are highly nutritious. In modern lingo, they are called superfood. We are the first unit to package branded brown rice, besides black rice, and the Himalayan red rice. I am hopeful that this Fest will go a long way in building a sustainable ecosystem of producers and sellers,” she told this reporter.
Similarly, drone technology startup Drone TechsLab’s co-founder and operation head Debajit Deka is hopeful that the Fest will encourage entrepreneurs to network, explore funding, and immerse in ideas. “We benefited from such an initiative in the past. Today, we are into using drone technology for the agriculture sector, besides training,” he told this newsletter.
The Fest was inaugurated by Industry and Commerce Minister of Assam Bimal Borah. He spoke on the importance of startup firms to come under one roof to exhibit and sell products manufactured by them. “We have invited serial entrepreneurs to exchange ideas with our startup founders to facilitate the growth of our firms onto the next level,” he said in his speech.
The Minister exhorted the entrepreneurs to focus on those areas which have the potential to better the lives of a majority of Indians. He said that the idea behind the three-day startup fest was to create an ecosystem of entrepreneurship in the State in sync with the vision of the Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Among those who exchanged ideas with budding entrepreneurs of the State were Better Place India CEO Pravin Agarwala, start-up guru T N Hari, and investor Haribala Subramanium.
Thirty-five start-ups from Assam were among the 150 units that were present in the three day fest in various capacities. Among the sessions that enthused startup entrepreneurs were Master Classes, Pitching, Sustainability of Startup Ventures, awareness sessions by NSIC on various schemes for MSME & startups and on startup funding by Bank of India, etc.
Those present in the inauguration ceremony were Member of Parliament Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, Commissioner of Industry and Commerce Oinam Sharan Singh, Assam Industrial Development Corporation MD Manvendra Pratap Singh, Assam Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited Managing Director Chinmoy Phukan, et al.
