BHUBANESWAR: Minister for Industries, MSME and Power Pratap Keshari Deb on Sunday said Odisha can not remain a service state and entrepreneurs here need to start manufacturing to compete at the national level.
Addressing the Startup Mela 2023, the maiden effort of Startup Odisha, Deb said the west is providing a huge opportunity in terms of manufacturing and the state should make the best of that opportunity. “Incubators should think beyond the typical academia culture. There is no dearth of talent in Odisha, and it is now also time for us to create a breed of entrepreneurs who will create jobs here and bring the talent pool back home. Startup is the only gateway through which we can establish thoroughbred self-made entrepreneurs,” he observed.
In another five to seven years, the minister said, the next industrial hub of the country will be Odisha. “In the recently concluded Make-in-Odisha conclave, we attracted an intent worth Rs 10.5 lakh crore. Going by the past record, even if we can ground 30 per cent of the intents, we would be effectively creating more than 2.5 lakh jobs with an additional revenue generation of around Rs 40,000 crore,” he added.
Executive chairman of Startup Odisha Omkar Rai said the startup mela is another step to achieve the vision where students will be mentored as to how to access the ecosystem and convert their ideas into products. The student community will bring about the next transformation in the state, he added.
Advising the student community on how to avail startup incentives, principal secretary of MSME department Saswat Mishra said the new business, which predominantly uses science and technology, new process of manufacturing, any intellectual property or patent-based product is covered by the startup policy, not all businesses.
The two-day event also witnessed a host of interactive sessions, including a special session - ‘Ask Subroto Bagchi’ in which the business leader and chairman Odisha Skill Development Authority interacted with students and shared mantras to entrepreneurs.