Entrepreneurship week from March 5

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to organise entrepreneurship week in the first week of March to promote micro, small and medium enterprises. The week will be inaugurated on March 5, the birthday of Biju Patnaik. This was decided in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Bijaya Kumar Patnaik here on Saturday. The theme of the year will be “Opportunities and Challenges for MSME in Odisha” with special reference to marketing of the produces of small and medium-scale industries.  Seminars will be conducted on various sectors like downstream industries, ancillaries, food processing, commercial horticulture, live-stock farming, value addition through cold-chain and market link, promotion of tourism with special emphasis on eco-tourism, hospitality, handloom and textiles.  There will be a separate session for credit and market linkages. Frequently asked questions with solutions will be circulated on all themes during all sessions for providing guidance to potential entrepreneurs. The Chief Secretary advised concerned departments to identify and showcase investment opportunities along with facilitation schemes of the Government in their respective sectors.  Similarly, various industrial houses and industries associations have also been advised to throw light on emerging areas as visualised by them and suggest Governmental support they need for promotion of those sectors. He also asked the newly-created department for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to explore the possibility of displaying the products of MSMEs and creating a common centre for transaction of their business.  Open house discussion will be held on March 12 wherein both the Government departments and entrepreneurs will share their views on how to remove the existing bottlenecks for putting up industries and their timely commission.  Principal Secretary, Information and Public Relations and MSME, NK Sundaray, Industries Secretary Parag Gupta, Principal Secretary, Tourism and Culture, AK Tripathy, Principal Secretary, Agriculture, RL Jamuda, Special Secretary, MSME, Panchanana Dash, Member of the State Planning Board SK Sahoo, representatives of various industries associations and Chamber of Commerce participated in discussions.