Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis said on Tuesday that the district administration would be setting up a Startup Cell at the Manipal Industrial Area here within a month to guide and provide necessary information to young and budding entrepreneurs on setting up their ventures.
She was speaking after inaugurating a programme on loan facilities being extended by the Karnataka State Finance Corporation (KSFC) for industrial and service sectors, here.
Ms. Francis said that several budding entrepreneurs approached the district administration saying that they had projects and wanted to get information on either getting finance or legal information for them. A Startup Cell would be able to guide such budding entrepreneurs.
There were some training institutes for the youth in the district. But it was found that the youth were taking up the same courses, including training and poultry, and their employment rate was less. It was essential that the youth took training in diverse fields or courses as this would help improve their employability, she said.
The government was offering loans at 4% interest rates. The young and budding entrepreneurs should take advantage of this facility to set up their startups or other businesses or enterprises, she said.
The youth could take interest in tourism, which had lot of potential in the district. Yet another sector was waste management. The district administration was giving priority to this sector and had set up Solid and Liquid Resource Management (SLRM) plants in various gram panchayats, she said. This move had paid dividends. As many as 45 gram panchayats in the district had made a profit of ₹ 11 lakh by selling recyclable waste, she said.
Even young entrepreneurs could set up such Solid and Liquid Resource Management plants in the gram panchayats as the waste generated and collected in the district was only going to increase, Ms. Francis said.
Srikrishnarao Kodancha, president of the Udupi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, I.R. Fernandes, president, District Small Industries Association, B.C. Shivaprakash, general manager, Mysuru Circle, KSFC, B.S. Moideen, assistant general manager, and Ramananda Nayak, joint director, District Industries Centre, were present.
