Young entrepreneurs from eastern India shine at ‘Y4BIZ’ Youth for Business program
Kolkata, Sep 9 (IBNS): The final of the ‘Y4BIZ’ Youth for Business program, organised by the U.S. Consulate Kolkata, in collaboration with social enterprise Contact Base, was held recently at the American Center the city.
A youth entrepreneurship initiative ‘Y4BIZ’ was initiated in four cities across eastern India -- Guwahati, Patna, Ranchi and Kolkata -- about a year back to support young promising entrepreneurs and help transform their business ideas from the initial stage to a sustainable business model.
U.S. Consulate General Patti Hoffman welcomed the participants and said, “The U.S. government is committed to promoting entrepreneurship internationally as a means to stimulate local economic growth, open markets for U.S. companies, and increase global prosperity.”
After a three-phase intensive workshop, including an online capacity building, mentoring program and a residential boot camp, top 15 participants were selected.
At the finals held in the American Center, Kolkata, the select 15 participants showcased their ideas before industry leaders, investors and policy makers for potential slots in the Nexus Incubator in Delhi.
The ideas were presented in three categories -- impact, inspiration and promise.
The award for the Most Impactful Business was won by Priyadarshini Dey from West Bengal for her empowering work in online teaching through her company NexConnect Ventures.
The award for the Most Innovative Business went to Pulkit Jain from Jharkhand for developing low-cost CNC Milling and 3D Printing Hybrid Workstations through his company Automated Innovations.
The award for the Most Promising Business went to Tanumoy Sarkar from West Bengal for providing nutritious meals to school children through his company Wonda Box.
Kalyan Kole earned a special mention for his work in grading up Bengal Goats through his organization Sanjevani Khamar.
The panel of judges included Eric Azulay, Director Incubatim Centers, U.S. Embassy, New Delhi, Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO, IIM Innovation Park, Chandradeep Mitra, visiting faculty IIM Kolkata, and Kuldeep Maiti, CEO, VFS (Village Financial Service).
Tanusree Nandan from West Bengal, founder of ‘The Layman’s Lawyer’, an online law firm, spoke about her experience.
“The journey was very enriching," said Nandan. "I would remember this all my life. I learnt a lot and this contest provided a really good opportunity for us budding entrepreneurs to showcase our talent, qualifying to the finale is a big achievement in itself, I am really grateful to Y4BIZ.”
The objective of this initiative was to empower youth and women leaders and to strengthen relationship between U.S. and India.
(Reporting by Tirna Chatterjee)
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