Odisha launches Startup Odisha Helpline

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday launched Startup Odisha Helpline in a bid to encourage entrepreneurship among youth in the state.

"I hope this Helpline will provide a platform to our youth, incubators and other stakeholders to address their issues," said the Chief Minister.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed between Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of the Union Ministry of Commerce, and Odisha MSME department.

"I am sure that partnership between Startup Odisha Initiative and Startup India Hub run by Invest India will help us in achieving the 'Mission-1000 Startups' by the year 2020 and help our youth in realising their dreams," said the Chief Minister.

He said the MoU with Invest India will bring global perspective and provide access to the best practices in the field of Startups and other MSME sectors.

The MoU will facilitate knowledge exchange, access to funding and networking between Odisha Startups and the global Startup ecosystem. Invest India will also extend knowledge support for development of the MSME Sector in the state with focus on food processing, agro-processing and spices sector.

Deepak Bagla, CEO and MD of Invest India, said, "Startup India has the objective of making India a country of job creators. The vision is to make India the number one Startup nation in the world."

Bagla congratulated the Odisha government on this extremely important initiative which will provide a critical foundation for the development of the entire Start-up ecosystem.

He said, "We look forward to working closely and to make the Chief Minister's vision of 1000 startup a reality in the immediate future".

--IANS

cd/lok/bg