Delhi to organize investor summit for student entrepreneurs

Sisodia said, the idea is to prepare the new and future generations to be job creators instead of job seekers, which required a risk-taking mind. Sisodia said that the state government has also prepared a new and comprehensive startup policy, which will support the entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship is set to play an important role in the Delhi government’s plan to improve the income of the people. In the state budget for fiscal year 2012, Sisodia said raising per capita income to Singapore’s level by 2047, a 16-fold jump, was not impossible. “A person who will be around 40 years old by 2047 will now be either in school or college. Our people are willing to take risks in many walks of life, but when it comes to starting a business venture, the risk appetite is less,” Sisodia, who also holds the education portfolio, said, explaining this. That’s why it was important to develop an entrepreneurial mindset from school itself.

The state in September announced a ‘Business Blaster’ scheme as part of its Entrepreneurial Mindset Program to give seed money to class 11th and 12th students to start their own ventures.

“Out of this, students have started working on 51,000 ideas. We will hold an investor summit in March to showcase the top 100 or 200 of these ventures, important ventures. These are the future CEOs who need investor support. Investors can sign deals with these students. People will invest, I am sure,” Sisodia said.

“India has the world’s top job seekers but if the job creators are sitting in other countries, it is those economies that will progress. If we have to develop our economy, then we need to change the mindset of job creation from job search,” argued the minister.

Sisodia said Delhi has ended the ‘raid raj’ on businesses and launched a scheme for doorstep delivery of various documents and certificates. “We are rolling out a new startup policy next month. In that we will support entrepreneurs for startups. This will create a new environment for doing business. We will implement it from January. It will be a comprehensive policy.”

The Delhi government is trying to promote the creation of new businesses at a time when state governments are competing to attract capital and add more local jobs. At present, Delhi reports the second largest number of companies joining every month after Maharashtra, according to data from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Sisodia said that around 400 seats have been created for admission without examination in the colleges of Delhi University for the students who have demonstrated entrepreneurial skills. These include IP University, Delhi Technological University, Netaji Subhas University of Technology and Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women. “We will also give seed money for business in colleges. We have set up Business Incubation Centers in Universities. The general seats will anyway be filled through competitive examination,” the minister explained.

Sisodia said that 52% of India’s workforce was self-employed, mostly in the informal sector. “But they were never taught entrepreneurship and the mindset is that of job seekers. They are forced to do what they are not taught. Had they been taught to be entrepreneurs, they would have been self-employed as well as earning handsomely.”