Goa rolls out flagship scheme to foster entrepreneurship

PANAJI
The State government has notified the ‘Mukhyamantri Swayam Rojgar Yojana’ ” a scheme aimed at creating a pool of trained faculty mentors by 2030 in the education and skilling sector, who would guide youths and provide structured mentoring and capacity-building support to help them take up entrepreneurship.
The scheme is aligned with Goa’s vision of becoming a self-reliant and innovation-driven State and aims to create a State-wide entrepreneurial culture through education and community outreach.
The programme, approved by the Cabinet in September, is envisioned as a flagship intervention of the Government, aimed at nurturing entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystems through an integrated education-to-enterprise model. The scheme will span five years”2025-26 to 2030-31”with periodic evaluations and flexibility for mid-course corrections based on outcomes and stakeholder feedback.
Under the scheme, entrepreneurship awareness programmes will be conducted across schools, colleges, community halls, and rural areas.
The nodal agency will be the Directorate of Industries, Trade and Commerce; the implementing agency will be the Economic Development Corporation (EDC); the training partner will be the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII); and line departments will include the Directorates of Education, Higher Education and Technical Education, and the Directorate of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
The target groups will include faculty from schools, colleges, ITIs, polytechnics, and other institutions; students across educational and skilling institutions; aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage start-up founders; and government officials engaged in education, skilling, and entrepreneurship.
The key components include the capacity-building and faculty mentor development programme. A four-step training programme for faculty members of colleges aims to train them to become mentors and guide aspiring student entrepreneurs. This includes sensitisation workshops, six-day FMDPs at EDII Ahmedabad, post-training mentoring, and five-day advanced FMDPs in Goa. These programmes will be held in a systematic, phased manner.
A State-level steering committee under the Director of Industries has been set up to periodically review the progress of the scheme.