Gujarat Govt, EDII Award Startup Grants to 136 Students

The Higher Education Department, Government of Gujarat, in association with the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), awarded startup grants to 136 students under the Student Entrepreneurship Policy, on Tuesday, at EDII’s campus. As a part of the policy, 136 novel ideas of college students were awarded a financial assistance of INR 40,000 to encourage and support their startup ideas. The selection was made from 838 students who were primarily trained by their college faculty members who in turn were trained by EDII before the intervention. A total of 426 faculty members were trained for the purpose, over 10 training programmes.  The 460 students (thus far) were nominated by the faculty members, their ideas were refined and they were trained to pitch their ideas infront of a selected panel comprising EDII faculty, principal/nodal officer of host institute, an expert from i-Hub and officials from Higher Education Department, Govt. of Gujarat. Out of 460 business ideas, 136 were selected for presentation of grants under the Student Entrepreneurship Policy.

Present on the grant presentation occasion was, Shri Praful Pansheriya, Hon'ble Minister of State, Parliamentary Affairs, Primary, Secondary and Adult Education, Higher Education, Govt. of Gujarat.  Also present at the inauguration were Shri Vadan Singh Bodana, Additional Director, Higher Education, Govt. of Gujarat and Dr. Satya Ranjan Acharya, Director, Dept. of Entrepreneurship Education, EDII.

The Student Entrepreneurship Policy, envisioned by the Govt of Gujarat, aims at promoting and developing entrepreneurship along with academics, among students studying in Government and Non-Government arts, science, commerce, B.ED, law colleges, and Gramya Vidyapeeth.

Congratulating the students, Shri Praful Pansheriya, said “The State has several instances of students breaking free from the job seeking mindset, thinking innovatively and floating sustainable startups. Today 136 students are kickstarting their entrepreneurial journey under the patronage of Student Entrepreneurship Policy. I am happy that these 136 students have decided to think different. I assure them that their decision is going to be rewarding. I am sure that this grant will set the ball rolling and you all will shine bright.”

EDII signed a MoU with the Higher Education Department in November 2023. The institute provides support to the education department by implementing the policy and preparing a cadre of resource persons (faculty mentor to impart entrepreneurship related training), conducting training programmes and workshops for students, to train them to set up their own enterprises.