C’garh govt handpicks 36 start-ups under promotion programme

The Chhattisgarh government has shortlisted 36 promising startups under its ambitious initiative launched last year to foster entrepreneurship and promote innovation.
Chief Minister Raman Singh today felicitated the startups selected under the first phase of the ‘Start-up Chhattisgarh Grand Challenge’ during an event organised here by Commerce and Industry department.
“Youths need to be fearless to bring their ideas into commercial products. This initiative (‘Start-up Chhattisgarh’) can provide wings to a lot of young talented people for becoming tomorrow’s entrepreneurial leaders,” Singh said.
He said his government was committed to make ‘Start-up Chhattisgarh’ a grand success and would extend full support to develop the ecosystem for start-ups.
The chief minister also inaugurated “36 inc.”, the only incubator in the state sanctioned under Atal Innovation Mission.
The incubator has been set up under Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society (CHiPS). It will currently operate from Udyog Bhawan here.
‘Start up Chhattisgarh’ was launched last year with an aim to create an ecosystem that is conducive for growth of startups, a senior state official said.
Under the first phase of the programme, boot camps were conducted in all the 27 districts of the state to collect ideas for incubation.
Out of the total 3,858 ideas submitted, 36 concepts were selected by the screening committee formed under the Commerce and Industry department, he said.
“Some of these (selected) entrepreneurs are professionals who had given up their jobs to fulfil their dream whereas others were students who had just passed out of college,” the official said.
Under the ’36 inc’, the incubatees will be mentored and provided support by the incubator in developing their business plan, building a prototype, market testing of the product/service and funding, he informed.
“All the activities during incubation process would be conducted with the help of startup gurus and the subject matter experts,” the official added.
State Industries Minister Amar Agrawal, Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand, Principal Secretary, IT, Aman Singh and other senior officials were present at the event. TKP NSK