Over 100 entrepreneurs sign-up for international coffee seminar
Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 1
The 2-day Nagaland International Coffee Seminar (NICS) began on October 1 in Dimapur. Over 100 coffee growers and entrepreneurs from across Nagaland signed up for the seminar, which was organised at Hotel Acacia by the Business Association of Nagaland (BAN).
The BAN has roped in international resource persons from South Africa— Pieter Vermulen, Jaco Janse Van Rensburg and Calvin Botes for the 2-day event. Vermulen is a coffee expert, who founded Noble Cause. Rensburg is a business consultant and entrepreneur focused on coffee. Calvin Bots is the founder of Merkava Coffee, South Africa. In the roster of resource persons include coffee entrepreneurs from Nagaland.
Lok Sabha Member, S Supongmeren Jamir, was the guest of honour at the inaugural session. Mercy Epao, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises delivered the keynote address.
Jamir, in his address, recalled his youth when he dabbled in coffee-growing back in the early 1980s. He recalled a government promotion programme that lacked key support elements, leading to financial losses for growers at the time.
According to him, the process was mostly manual, while the growers had no market linkage. “During that point of time, the Coffee Board of India encouraged us to plant coffee,” he said, while adding “We had to do the marketing too. We were advised to go meet the companies in south India. We had no market linkage support that time,” Jamir recalled.
Growers today, he added, are better placed with the requisite technical and market linkage support from the government and also from private entities like the BAN. He also acknowledged the progress made by Naga coffee entrepreneurs, stating, “I see Naga coffee entrepreneurs are doing really well, promoting Nagaland coffee." He encouraged persistence and consistency in their efforts, discouraging the practice of hopping from one scheme to another.
The MSME Joint Secretary, Mercy Epao laid emphasis on entrepreneurs leveraging government initiatives, through the MSME, designed to formalise the informal sector by providing skills training, access to finance and market linkage programmes.
Recognising the challenges of access to finance faced by growers and entrepreneurs alike, Epao outlined solutions. She expressed confidence in Nagaland's potential while calling for collaboration between the state government, central government and entrepreneurs to maximise growth opportunities.
She further urged the entrepreneurs the importance of brand building, while highlighting the government's commitment to gender parity and supporting women-led businesses.
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