Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 16 (IANS) The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched a national initiative to identify, incubate, mentor and finance startups and enterprises led by Scheduled Tribe (ST) entrepreneurs, with Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) among 10 institutions selected to implement the programme.
Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram said the initiative was aimed at harnessing the potential of tribal youth and creating both job creators and job seekers by expanding outreach and handholding support for ST innovators and entrepreneurs.
Tribal Affairs Minister of State Durgadas Uikey said the initiative was part of efforts to promote the growth of tribal communities in areas including education, health, digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence.
The Ministry has signed MoUs with 10 agencies, including KSUM, to create an enabling ecosystem for innovation-driven entrepreneurship among tribal communities.
The initiative seeks to reach around 1,000 ST entrepreneurs across the country, with at least 100 to be funded and incubated under the Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Tribes (VCF-ST).
The MoU with KSUM will provide ST-led enterprises in Kerala with structured capacity building, mentorship, market linkages and support to become investment-ready.
KSUM is the Kerala government’s nodal agency for entrepreneurship development and incubation.
Under the VCF-ST scheme, companies with at least 51 per cent shareholding by ST entrepreneurs and management control can avail financial assistance of up to Rs 50 lakh if the ownership condition has been maintained for six months.
For funding above Rs 50 lakh, the 51 per cent ST shareholding and management control should have been maintained for at least 12 months.
The scheme also provides incubation funding of up to Rs 10 lakh a year for three years, subject to satisfactory progress. Applications are currently open.
Tribal Affairs Secretary Ranjana Chopra said innovation was not new to tribal communities and that traditional tribal systems contained considerable knowledge and innovation that had often not reached the modern world. A structured strategy was needed to bring such innovation into the mainstream, she said.
Bridging the gap between the country’s overall startup numbers and ST-led startups and handholding a larger number of tribal entrepreneurs have been identified as key priorities under the initiative.
Kerala’s Special Secretary, Electronics and IT, Seeram Sambasiva Rao said the MoU would contribute to the socio-economic empowerment of ST communities and promote technology-oriented innovative projects by tribal youth.
KSUM CEO Anoop Ambika said Kerala’s startup ecosystem was conducive to identifying and scaling innovation-driven entrepreneurship among ST communities.
–IANS
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