Many wonderful things are happening in Nagaland and along with the rest of the world we are also moving forward, though perhaps not at the pace that we actually want to get things done. We have had a government which is innovative in coming out with several initiatives to cater to the need of a cross section—from farmers to youths and now entrepreneurs. However the outcome of all this, whether the government programmes in the last seven to nine years have had a positive impact, and if benefits have accrued to the people, is something that will require a more thorough study. However what is perhaps a fair thing to say is that programme implementation has been poor and corruption in the working of the government system remains a dampener. So you see we seem to be doing things in bits and pieces and this not helping us generate enough to sustain either the spirit of entrepreneurship or the vibrancy of our local economy. As Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio rightly mentioned during a Business Interface organized by our very own local brand Entrepreneurs Associate (EA), the business activities here in Nagaland is mostly centered around trade and retail shops. There is therefore room for improving our potential. One way to go about is for our educated youths to explore the needs of what people want. As the CM mentioned, we need to give special attention towards manufacturing of local products like, handloom and handicraft and textile. Rio substantiated his point that whenever tourists landed in Nagaland they prefer to buy local products, which they cannot find anywhere.
Here perhaps we need to change our mindset from westernization into believing in our own way of life. Sometimes the business sense of our young people is oriented more towards what is fashionable and cool and one that caters to a consumption lifestyle or what many of us now talk about—a consumer spending economy. Many venture into opening shops selling designer clothes, shoes and other branded items. We also have mushrooming of showrooms dealing with electronic and the latest gadgets. It is not that we should not open such outlets. It is just that we are in Nagaland and this is not Mumbai, New York, London or Tokyo. We should not blindly ape what the West has to offer. Why not have the attitude of ‘hey what can we offer the West’. Perhaps entrepreneurship in the Naga context should be about developing our own products and exporting the Made in Nagaland tag to the outside world. Let us focus on brand Naga-Land.
Here as an example we can be proud of an organization like the Entrepreneurs Associate (EA), started by young Naga minds, which has quietly but surely ventured into something that not many people would have risked or ever imagined—the banking sector. As of today EA has extended loan to over 7000 individuals in Nagaland and Manipur. We need to encourage EA to become the first fully developed Naga indigenous bank and something that we can export to the outside world. Coming back to the entrepreneurship potential that needs to be explored, in line with what the CM said about doing more to come out with local products, we need to really know what the comparative advantage of the Naga people is. Culture, land, natural resource, social capital, local food cuisines are some of the things. And if we can explore and develop our business around these advantages that we possess, it will not only be viable but also sustainable for the long haul. Let us start to cultivate what God has endowed us with.
