National Women Entrepreneurs’ Summit at GBPUAT under ICAR-IDP-NAHEP

First-generation women entrepreneurs share their journeys

2nd December 2023, Pantnagar

The first-ever National Women Entrepreneurs’ Summit was held at G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology (GBPUAT) in Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, today. It brought together over 55 first-generation women entrepreneurs from 20 diverse sectors who shared their entrepreneurial journeys with nearly 600 students and faculty members.

This one-of-a-kind summit was organized as part of the ICAR-Institutional Development Plan (IDP) component of the National Agricultural and Higher Education Project (NAHEP) to motivate GBPUAT students to explore entrepreneurship as a viable career option. NAHEP, a joint initiative of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the World Bank, aims to enhance the quality and relevance of higher education in agricultural universities (AUs).

The outcome of NAHEP is evident with over 2000 students and 800 faculty members from different AUs benefiting from exposure to over 150 international Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) over the span of the last five years. They received training in over 500 emerging areas of agriculture and allied fields. Furthermore, the project led to the development of more than 616 pilot courses, the completion of over 10,000 training sessionsand the establishment of industry-institution interaction cells, placement cells, alumni networks, artificial intelligence labs, etc.

The summit also provided a platform for the 55 women entrepreneurs to showcase their products. Komal Jaiswal, the founder of Greenaffair, a venture dedicated to producing chemical-free products, discussed the potential of agri-entrepreneurship in the upcoming decade. She said, “There could be no better time for agriculture graduates to pursue entrepreneurship as a career of their dreams.”

Dr S K Kashyap, the Principal Investigator of IDP-NAHEP at Pantnagar, who spearheaded the entire summit, emphasized that this event was not a one-time affair but an effort to establish long-term networks with entrepreneurs and enterprises. He added, “These networks are intended to enhance the capacity of students and strengthen institutional frameworks.”

(Source: National Agricultural Higher Education Project)