Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship invites applications for awards

The government has invited applications for the National Entrepreneurship Awards by September 30. The awards, instituted by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, recognise and encourage entrepreneurship in the country.

Awards will be given to entrepreneurs below the age of 30, and ecosystem builders under two categories - Award Track and Recognition Track.

Under the Award Track, 17 first generation entrepreneurs in emerging domains, including textiles and leather; agriculture, food and forestry products; chemicals and pharmaceuticals; renewable energy and waste management; handicrafts; e-commerce; IT and ITES; healthcare; education and engineering, will be awarded.

The government has also partnered with IIT Delhi, IIM Ahmedabad, IIT Bombay, TISS Mumbai, IIT Madras, XLRI Jamshedpur and IIT Kanpur for entrepreneurship development.

Awards will also be presented to entrepreneurs in the categories of social enterprises, women, SC/ ST, persons with disability and enterprise from vocational education, among others.

For the recognition track category, six ecosystem builders will be awarded. They include institutes or organisations that offer courses on entrepreneurship development, institutes or organisations providing incubation, mentorship and handholding support and mentors.

Individual entrepreneurs will be awarded Rs 5 lakh, and mentoring institutes will be awarded Rs 10 lakh. Applications can be filled online on www.neas.gov.in.

This is the second year that the awards are being instituted.

Last year’s winners included Wow Momo Foods, Saral Design Solutions and JetSetGo Aviation Services, while mentor awardees included Harkesh Kumar Mittal, Head, National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board, Government of India and Pradeep Gupta, Chairman of the Cyber Media Group. The Tiruchirappalli Regional Engineering College-Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Park was recognised for its incubator programme, and educational institute RUDSETI, Karnataka was awarded under the Recognition Track category.