Start entrepreneurship development courses: Firhad

Kolkata: State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim urged the organisers of the 31st Industrial India Trade Fair (IITF) to make arrangements of starting some sort of entrepreneurship development programme.

"The state government has taken significant strides in the ease of doing business in the state and at the same time is promoting entrepreneurship and encouraging start-ups. It will be nice if there can be some course on entrepreneurship development," Hakim said at the inauguration of the IITF that kicked off at Park Circus Maidan on Friday. The Fair organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI) will be held for 11 days.

Hakim added that Bengal is positioned at number one in the MSME sector and the government, under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, has been able to usher in a change in the mindset of people who are now interested to take up business ventures. "There was a time when people would only go for some time-bound office jobs. But now, entrepreneurs are coming up with new ideas and taking up business ventures many of which have been very successful too," he added.

Satyam Roychowdhury, president of BNCCI, said the highlights of the IITF this year will be three major conclaves. There will be an education conclave on December 22, industry conclave on December 24 and another on skill development on December 26.

"There will be competitions in the form of hackathon where awards will be given out for innovative projects and start-ups," he maintained.

Apart from participants from the state, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Turkey have also put up their stalls at the fair.