Ideas, resource and enterprise—Made in Ukhrul Conclave showcase home-grown indigenous products

April 6, 2018 1791 Views No Comment

By Tennoson Pheiray for The Naga Republic

In order to tap into the abundance of indigenous resource and enterprise among local innovators and producers, the Made in Ukhrul conclave under the theme ‘Sustainable Ukhrul 2030’ was held on April 5-6 in the picturesque hill town of Ukhrul.

An upcoming enterprise called ‘Hill Wild’ founded by Leiyolan Vashum and Zeinorin Stephen Angkang with a vision to build healthier lifestyle and community through locally available food in the North East region of India organized the event. Planned as an Entrepreneurship Conclave cum Trade Fair under the theme “Sustainable Ukhrul 2030”, the event was aimed to bring economic sustainability in the district town of Ukhrul in Manipur.

Hill Wild is a community based movement focusing on economic sustainability. Hill Wild has successfully created a chocolate using exotic pumpkin seeds and artisan sausages with a phenomenal response from the buyers.

Trying out Hill Wild’s classic roasted pumpkin seeds chocolate

Zeinorin Angkang informed that Ukhrul district had good potential given its natural resources available. What was required according to him was developing entrepreneurial skills to tap into this potential. According to Angkang, the first step towards addressing the issue was to bring the local entrepreneurs together and pushing the small businessmen and entrepreneurs to use their skill and talent to maximum and exporting their products beyond the district and state.

While the Made In Ukhrul 2017 edition was self funded by Hill Wild, the 2018 edition is being sponsored by the North Eastern Council (NEC). Although small in scale the conclave has created the much needed platform to bring together ideas, resource and enterprise.

Leiyolan Vashum, co-founder of Hill Wild said the theme “Sustainable Ukhrul 2030” is a vision to achieve certain goals to make Ukhrul truly sustainable economically. The aim is to identify certain products that can be manufactured and produced in Ukhrul and initiate the whole concept of processing and supplying products within the district and outside so that we do not have to import from other districts, states, etc.

In other words, the larger aim of the conclave series is to make the district self sufficient and bring sustainable lifestyle. The Entrepreneurship Conclave Cum Trade Fair aims to find ways to create and maintain healthy economic and trade relationship with external entities.

Achui Shimray founder of CeePee Handlooms was the winner of Business Pitching Competition for entrepreneurs and was awarded Rs 1 Lakh as seed funding.

One remarkable event of the conclave was the special workshop by Amazon Saheli and Totalstart Ecosystem Developers to incubate 30 women entrepreneurs who would want to scale their business upto 10 crores in the next 5 years.

Karma Bhutia – CEO of Ishippo.com, Satabdee Borah – CEO of GNRC hospitals, Gaurav Gupta – CEO of Swaaha, Vignesh Rmeshwamy – CEO of Tartl, Shiroi Lily Shaiza – Managing Director of Aspora Nagaland and Dr Suryanil Ghosh – Chairman of TotalStart Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Developers delivered powerful presentations during the event and encouraged the local entrepreneurs.

The event witnessed 92 entrepreneurs from diverse fields, including bakers, artistes, chefs, designers, service providers, local farmers, manufacturers displaying their products ranging from clothing, furniture, processed foods, handicrafts, textiles, etc.

The event is sponsored by North Eastern Council with an aim to building economically sustainable community through entrepreneurship.