Dimapur, May 9 (MExN): In a bid to boost employment of local artisans and generation of higher income for them, the Nagaland University in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Export Organisations formulated a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) aimed to be a single window clearance, with a transparent mechanism in which all local entrepreneurs can contribute with no conflict of interest among the stake holder.
Talking about the SPV with The Morung Express at the Police Conference Hall here in Chumukedima, Nagaland University VC, Prof Kannan said that the SPV, a pilot project, will basically be a core group or company that will look after the planning and implementation of ideas with regard to handicrafts and local entrepreneurship. The share holders will be the NRDC, bankers, IIE, NSIC and businessmen. He divulged that it would be like some kind of ‘an incorporation’, where a corpus fund will be set on equity basis with contribution from all sources, though the contribution of the local entrepreneurship would be lesser that the big companies. Dispelling any doubts, Kannan said, “There will be no conflict of interest,” and added that the SPV will provide all kinds of logistics to the entrepreneurs.
Kannan disclosed that the SPV will be on a project mode and have an incubator facility where entrepreneurs will be given training and take out demonstrations of their products. It would focus on horticulture, nursing, medicine, floriculture, certification, agriculture, fishing, packaging and eco-tourism etc. The incubator facility will also provide training on weaving, branding, IPR, handicraft, training and management.
The SPV will also be advising entrepreneurs about market situations. He cited the instance of ginger cultivation, where many farmers cultivated ginger but ultimately bringing down the cost of the product due to heavy supply.
On being queried what would be the reward for the other players like private companies who would be investing in the SPV, Kannan said ‘they would be getting everything on a platter and that they don’t have to run here and there’, vaguely implying that they would also be profited greatly. The NU VC, further, revealed that the dateline for setting up the SPV is three months from now.
Rajajani, a consultant under the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, who also attended the workshop, termed the idea as ‘fantastic’, and promised to extend every possible help to the SPV and said the matter about becoming a stake-owner in the SPV can be taken in the rural business hub, which mainly deals with providing funds to the rural areas of India.
Discussing about Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) on the second day of the workshop on Green technologies and services in North East India-higher returns and global opportunities, the Secretary General of FIEO, Tinoo Joshi, IAS, who welcomed the ideas contributed by the participants as ‘fantastic’, declared that the SPV which will be a profit making company, will be registered under the Companies Act of India. She said the chairman of the SPV will be an ‘outside appointee’ and there will be a board of managing committee to oversee the workings of the company. She further affirmed that the Nagaland government has asked them to set up such a project like the SPV.
This SPV is supposed to be a model project and if ‘it can do wonders’ then it would spread to other states of the north eastern region, said the FIEO Secretary General.
However, despite all the dreams of the SPV, some of the local entrepreneurs shared some pessimistic opinions about the project. “See, we are sitting here in an air-conditioned room discussing….what about the ground realities in the villages. Unless we assess that, it will be just like the other projects (that has never been realized)” said one participant during lunch hour.
When put up that question with the NU Vice Chancellor, he said, “That’s what exactly we are going to take up (assess the ground situation in the villages)”.
A professor of the Nagaland University also expressed his apprehension that unless some Naga artisans or entrepreneurs make some mark in the international level it would be very hard to compete in the market. He said projects like the SPV is ‘very easy to speak of,’ yet difficult when put into practice.
Whatever the outcome might be, the SPV, theoretically, is a significant idea, but practically, only time will tell.
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