The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) hosted the fourth edition of the National Entrepreneurship Awards (NEA) in New Delhi on Saturday, November 9 at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, New Delhi.

NEA instituted in a bid to recognize and encourage outstanding Entrepreneurs from our country and catalyse a cultural shift in youth for entrepreneurship.

It aims to honour outstanding young first generation entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders for their exceptional contribution in the entrepreneurship development by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)

The awards seek to instill and entrench the entrepreneurial attitude among the future generations and the Youth of India.

A total of 30 young entrepreneurs and 6 entrepreneurship ecosystem builders were conferred with the award to honor outstanding contributions in entrepreneurship development. The award included a trophy, a certificate and prize money up to Rs 10 lakhs.

This year, the Ministry witnessed a sharp increase not only in the total number of applications, but also in terms of completed applications from a variety of businesses. The number of completed applications grew from 2379 last year to 4134 this year. This 73% growth of successful entrepreneurs completing their application for National Entrepreneurship Awards 2019 is reflection of the increasing seriousness of young entrepreneurs for the coveted National Entrepreneurship Awards.

The event ceremony was graced by Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Hon’ble Minister of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. Speaking on the entrepreneurial growth culture in India, he said, “Today, India is at a threshold of startup boom, as we are world’s third fastest growing startup eco-system. With 7,200 startups, India is closely behind UK with 11,864 startups and catching up to US which had 41,500 startups as of 2018. India is changing and soar the aspirations of its people. It is an evidence of drastic improvement in the business environment, Of course fueled by the innovative modules of business that we are witnessing from the youth of the country. It is our priority that we give the right kind of support to the aspiring talent and nurture and encourages our young minds to dream big and achieve bigger.”

“NEA is a great platform to encourage young aspiring entrepreneurs and recognize the exemplary work that they have done adding to their professional and nation’s overall growth. I wish all of them the very best for their future and hope they further motivate many more to be a part of India’s growth story,” he further added.

Candidates had to undergone a three-level rigorous evaluation process, wherein, at the last step, the National Jury of eminent persons drawn from academia/research, industry, social sector, banking etc., selected the winners. An eminent panel of National level Jury members comprised of Dr. R A Mashelkar, Former Director-General, CSIR; Mr. Milind Kamble, Founder, DICCI; Ms. Neelam Chibber, MD & Managing Trustee Industree Foundation; Mr. Arun Tyagi, Director, Induslnd Bank Limited; Shri Harish Hande, Founder SELCO India Foundation and Mr. Vinayak Nath, Managing Partner, Venture Catalysts.

For the successful execution of the National Entrepreneurship Awards 2019, MSDE partnered with twelve premier institutes and organization which are spread across the country,  including IIT Madras (Lead Partner), IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, XLRI, TISS, NSIC, IIT Guwahati, IRMA, MANAGE, NIF (Co-Lead), NABARD, and RSETI. These institutions were responsible for mobilizing nominations and evaluation process.

The Awards ceremony witnessed attendance from senior officials of the ministry, members of the Skill Sector Councils, corporate leaders; successful and budding entrepreneurs among others.