Entrepreneurship to be part of school curriculum: Odisha CM

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today inaugurated O-hub, a flagship initiative of Government of Odisha, to support start-up formation and subsequent scale-up.

The state supported incubation hub is located in the Special Economic Zone, Patia Bhubaneswar and offers 1,50,000 square feet area with state-of-the art facility, plug-n-play infrastructure to support startup activities within the state. This initiative would provide a platform for innovators and entrepreneurs to develop products or services, establish formal businesses and interact with stakeholders of the ecosystem.

Inaugurating this world class incubation centre, the Chief Minister said that O-Hub will be the first point to identify the best in the industry for co-creation and development of business with their new ideas and it will be a conglomerate for business houses and innovation. The CM said that now the innovators, mentors, corporate partners, ecosystem enablers and facilitators — all of them will work under one roof.

The O-hub will facilitate 200 start-ups every year in diverse sectors like healthcare, renewable energy, ICT, artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality/virtual reality, internet of things, handlooms and handicrafts, agri-tech etc.

Expressing happiness over creation of more than 1,200 start-ups so far under the Odisha Start-up Policy 2016 that have generated 10,000 employments in the state, the Chief Minister expressed confidence that the State will achieve the goal of 5,000 start-ups by 2025. O-hub will be a propellant to foster a spirit of entrepreneurship by providing end-to-end assistance to a start-up during their start up journey, he added.

The Chief Minister said that the start-up movement in Odisha is growing every day and the Start-up Odisha has been a catalyst to this movement, driving them by energy, enterprise and innovation.

The State has proposed in the new draft policy 2021 to reach out to the young minds in school by adding entrepreneurship as a part of the school curriculum, the CM announced.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister MSME Dibya Shankar Mishra applauded the state initiative towards entrepreneurs and how start-up Odisha has been pivotal in nurturing grassroots innovations and aiding them to be a scalable business.

The state incubation hub aims to mobilize start-up investments to the tune of Rs 100 crore per year through venture capitalists, angel networks, HNIs, state and Central Government departments or agencies or PSUs.

Odisha Skill Development Authority Chairman Subrato Bagchi said that O-hub is a great platform to celebrate start-ups and provide an investor ecosystem in the state.

Asit Tripathy, Principal Advisor to CM said how O-Hub would bring the start-up community together by providing a platform for entrepreneurs, mentors, investors and academia to interact and collaborate.

Among others, Suresh Mohapatra, Chief Secretary, Pradeep Kr Jena, Development Commissioner; Satybrata Sahu, Principal Secretary MSME attended the programme.

The Chief Minister also released a coffee table book on Start-up Odisha.