• Winners received cash award of INR 5 lakh (enterprises and individuals) and INR 10 lakh (organizations/institutes)
• Felicitation of ‘Champions of Change’; acknowledging contributions of DGT’s and NSDC’s training providers in skill development
• Release of National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF) Manuals by NSDA
• Release of ‘Swalamban Ki Ore’, a compilation of entrepreneurial success stories from NIESBUD & IIE

Embarking on an ambitious mission to empower Indian youth with skill training and employability, the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE)today hosted the National Entrepreneurship Awards 2017, marking the completion of three glorious years of its inception today.

The awards were conferred in the august presence of Shri Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, His Excellency Shri Kenji Hiramatsu, Ambassador of Japan to India, Dr K.P Krishnan, Secretary, MSDE; Jyotsna Sitling, Joint Secretary, MSDE, Sunita Chhibba, Senior Adviser and Ms Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank Ltd. 

The National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) was instituted by MSDE in 2016 to encourage a culture of entrepreneurship across the country. This year the second edition of awards were conducted which saw participation from 2880 applicants out of which 45 were shortlisted; and finally 15 winners across defined categories, were announced and awarded.

Congratulating all the entrepreneurs recognised by MSDE in the 2nd version of the awards this year highlighting the challenges of limited job creation capacity, Shri Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, said, “India has a much younger population versus other advance economies. This is a huge opportunity for us to scale up and skill our workforce and reap our demographic dividend and service economies. Conventionally our focus was on awarding degrees with always a debate on how we link them to jobs. Over a period of time we have realised that we need to skill our youth for these jobs.”

He further added “Conventionally people were skilled according to their communities but as economies develop and there is advent of technology, we need to realize the importance of reskilling and upskilling, to bridge the demand supply gap. As the economy expands, a specialized skilled workforce is the need to the hour. “

“The Strength of India’s economy will be entrepreneurship. We have to ensure that we do not restrict the youth. We let them unleash their energy, allow them to move away from the beaten track and build new ideas for the new India,” he further added.

The core committee of implementing partners of NEAS2017 comprised of the seven premier institutes which oversaw the scheme implementation. These institutes included- Indian Institute of Technology Delhi; Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur; Indian Institute of Technology Bombay; Indian Institute of Technology Madras; Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad; XLRI Jamshedpur; Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai. The first National Entrepreneurship Awards Ceremony was held last year where Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Minister for Home Affairs.

Winners were given a cash award of Rs 5 lakh (enterprises and individuals) and Rs. 10 lakh (organizations/institutes) along with a certificate and trophy recognising their efforts of being the change agents in India’s development. The national jury for NEA 2017 includes eminent persons drawn from academia/research, industry, social sector, banking etc. and is as follows:

1. Academia/ Research – Dr. RA Mashelkar, Former DG CSIR
2. Banking and Investment – Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, Former Chairman and MD HDFC
3. Social Entrepreneur – Dr. Devi Shetty, Founder Narayana Hrudalaya
4. Mentor – Mr. Mohandas Pai, Chairman Manipal Global Education
5. Social entrepreneur – Mr. Anant Pandhare, Medical Director, Dr. Hedgewar Hospital, Aurangadab
6. Industry – Mr. Milind Kamble, Founder Chairman, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and

Industry (DICCI)

The foundation day ceremony was well attended by senior delegates from the ministry, members of the Skill Sector Councils, leaders from Corporate India; successful and budding entrepreneurs among others.

On this occasion, National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF) Manuals were released by National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) which will provides the benchmarks or quality criteria which the different organizations involved in education and training must meet in order to be accredited to provide education and training/skills activities.

Further, to encourage development of entrepreneurial skills among school students, course module on entrepreneurship was released for class IX and X.   Capturing success stories of entrepreneurs who have walked the extra mile to initiate positive changes, a compilation handbook ‘Swalamban ki Ore’ was also jointly released by National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD) and Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE).

NATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARD 2017

List of Winners

(a)    Award Track

(b)   Recognition Track

Champions of Change

Champions of Change under Directorate General Training (DGT) ecosystem: (Long Term Skill Development)

Champions of change under National Skill Development Corporation ecosystem: (Short Term Skill Development)