“Link – 2013”, a national vendor development programme, seminar and exhibition, will be held in the city on Saturday and Sunday, said S.G. Hegde, Joint Director, District Industries Centre, Mangalore.
Mr. Hegde told presspersons here that the aim of the programme was to develop linkages between small and large enterprises. He said the objective was to provide an opportunity to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) to showcase their capabilities to various wings of government organisations such as railways, defence, public-sector undertakings, and other large-scale private enterprises that outsource to micro and small enterprises.
The second objective was to enable large-scale enterprises to identify suitable vendors in the MSE sector to forge “vendor-vendee” relationships. The third objective was to make known to educated youths of the opportunities in the MSME sector.
The programme had been organised by the Branch MSME Development Institute, Ministry of MSME, Government of India, Mangalore, in association with the District Industries Centre (DIC), Government of Karnataka, Dakshina Kannada district, Mangalore, and District Small Industries Association, Yeyyadi, Mangalore.
The exhibition would house 100 stalls with exhibits from MSMEs and companies such as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Heavy Vehicles Factory, South-Western Railway, Integral Coach Factory, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Limited (MRPL), Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL), New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT), ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) Mangalore Petrochemicals Limited (OMPL), Mangalore Special Economic Zone, Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Co-operative Limited (CAMPCO), Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) and various banks.
On the second day, a seminar would be held covering topics such as “requirements of large-scale enterprises”, “public purchase policy”, “registration and vendor rating”, “role of supporting agencies”, and “credit facilities”. MSMEs, large enterprises, machinery and raw material suppliers and bankers would participate in the event. Entrepreneurs, bankers and members of the public may participate in the seminar to be held on Saturday. M. Maheshwar Rao, Commissioner for Industrial Development and Director, Industries and Commerce, Government of Karnataka, would inaugurate the programme. K. Socrates, Deputy Director, MSME DI, Mangalore, said that educated youth should consider entrepreneurship as a career choice.
K. Jayraj Pai, president, District Small Industries Association, Mangalore, was present.