Entrepreneurship in the context of Manipur

Oinam Nabakishore Singh *

Most of the countries in the world have seen development through entrepreneurship and investment. Oil and gas rich countries like Oman and Brunei are exceptions in the sense that extraordinary revenue from oil and gas has enabled them to achieve much higher per capita income without the normal route of entrepreneurship and investment. When we look at the course of development of almost developed economies of South Korea and Singapore in the last 60-70 years, we find that entrepreneurship at different levels have played important roles to contribute to exports and economic development.

The policies of government to support local industries in South Korea through a number of inentives have tremendously helped them to be competitive globally . The largest economy in the world, the United States of America, have developed through entrepreneurship of people living there, who are mostly migrants from different countries of Europe. They came with knowledge, technology, skills of Europe to USA. The competition among them backed by high level of education, science and technology and spirit of entrepreneurship pushed the country from agricultural economy to the industrialized nation.

Manipur has been traditionally an agricultural economy. In the hills, agriculture is practiced at subsistence level through mainly jhum (slash and burn) cultivation. In the valley too, there was no or little surplus. Rice under public distribution system brought from other states has been supplementing the local production to meet the demand. With divisions of land- holding over time, area available per farmer is shrinking day by day.

Service sector, mainly provided by the state government, central government, para-military forces, army, hospitals and education in both public and private sector have played important roles in generation of income and employment. Trading and transport have also played important roles in the overall economy of the state. The share of manufacturing in the state GDP is quite negligible. The state has more than 7 lakh educated youths registered with the Government Employment Exchanges.

It is necessary to design strategies to fruitfully employ the unemployed persons for productive purposes. Since the government is not in a position to create so many jobs, we are required to encourage entrepreneurship and investment by the private sector to absorb the unemployed youths and future educated youths being churned out from Universities. Of late, a number of local youths, both in the valley and hills have taken the path of entrepreneurship.

For instance, most of the shops lining the streets in Ukhrul town are managed by the local youths especially women. In Imphal too, the participation of local people in trading has increased now. Besides generating own employment and employment of others, such entrepreneurship of local population will lead to further investment in business. It is also heartening to note that some of the local youths have also ventured into difficult areas of manufacturing and packaging.

However, for various reasons, manufacturing continues to be a difficult and challenging area. Success. While I was working as Principal Secretary of Commerce and Industry Department, we showcased investment opportunities in Manipur at several National Conferences and Exhibitions. But, in response to such promotions, we saw little investment in the state by the business community from outside the state.

The sense of insecurity felt by outsiders mainly on account of negative media reports and misinformation, the state remains unattractive for investment. Then, I was convinced that there was no option other than grooming local entrepreneurs. How do we groom local youths for entrepreneurship and encourage investment in the state? Answer to the first part of the question is not easy. We have to adopt a multi-pronged approach to overcome the challenge.

We have to start at a young age and right from school. We have to inculcate a habit of risk taking among the youths from early ages. One of the most important requirements of entrepreneurship is risk-taking attitude. Some people are, by nature, risk averse or risk taking. Since entrepreneurship entails a huge risk at every stage, we need to expose youths to games and sports, where there are chances of failure.

Once trained in risk taking habit in games, it is possible to transfer such behavior and attitude to business. It will also pay well to expose students to stories and films of entrepreneurs drawn from the state, country or global success stories. We have seen attributes like steadfastness, determination and perseverance, and will to rise in spite of falling, as shown in various movies, help in molding a successful entrepreneur.

It will be a good idea to include success stories of entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Steve Job, Jack Ma, Elon Musk, etc., in syllabus in schools and colleges. Field trips to visit some of the successful businesses in the state will also motivate the youths to venture into entrepreneurship. Frequent workshops and seminars for prospective entrepreneurs will help the spread of awareness. Recognizing the importance of Entrepreneurship, the Government of India has created the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

In order to give the necessary thrust, it may be a good idea to rename the state government's department of Labour and Employment as Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Manipur University also is running courses on entrepreneurship. Industry Department of the state government too runs a few entrepreneurship development courses. If we are to create an ecosystem of business and entrepreneurship, more needs to be done especially at the academic institutes.

It is reported in Economic Times on 8th May, 2018 as, "IIT, Delhi is an early entrant to incubating startups and has, so far spawned some 80 companies. IIT alumni has an international reputation for being adventurous entrepreneurs. So when Rao took over as Director, he found the institution bustling with startups and ideas. But it did not have enough of what he called 'deep companies'" . It is obvious that premier institutes are involved in encouraging their students to consider being entrepreneur instead of working for others.

The startup prgramme of the State Government is yet to take off now. Applications were invited in March, 2018, but the process of screening and extending assistance to the new startups in the state is yet to take shape. The chances of success of entrepreneurship depends on various factors-business idea, financing, suitable manpower, market and competitiveness besides will to succeed in spite of failures and challenges. Handholding by experienced people during the initial period is always helpful.

Besides, the role of the state government to provide infrastructure and incentives needs no further emphasis. Every state in the country has a package of incentives and business support infrastructure. Incentives like capital investment subsidy, tax holiday for fixed number of years, interest subsidy, liberal credit flows, etc. will help in investment for business. Such incentives also help in mitigating the risks to some extent. In the context of Manipur, local people are reasonably doing well in trading and service sectors. Manufacturing is quite challenging though we have a few success stories.

In order to expand the market for the goods and services produced in Manipur, there is need for improvement of logistics especially transportation. No road transporter in Manipur is willing to transport goods out of Manipur to neighbouring states. When I enquired from some leading transporters, it was informed that the main reasons for refusal are fear of carrying illegal goods like drugs, arms, and hassles of extortion on the route between Imphal and Dimapur. With proper documentation of the cargoes and cooperation of security forces, the problems mentioned here can be addressed.

There are a number of success stories of entrepreneurship in the state. They should be repeated across the state. A movement of free private enterprises is the need of the hour, if we have to catch up with the rest of India. Everybody in the state should encourage entrepreneurship keeping the goal of development in mind. The future is bright if we are convinced that we can win.


[ Views expressed here are personal ]