‘Make In Odisha Conclave 2022’, an endeavor to nurture the state’s start-up ecosystem began on November 30, 2022.

On the first day, the conclave witnessed a session hosted by Start-Up Odisha with a theme of ‘Start-Ups Paradigm Shift And The Road Ahead.’ The session showcased the journey of Odisha’s start-up ecosystem, trends and opportunities emerging from it. Additionally, it emphasised the entrepreneurial culture and economic and business transformation. 

The discussion was conducted in the presence of Dr. Omkar Rai, executive chairman of Start-Up Odisha and Saswat Mishra, principal secretary of the MSME Department, Government of Odisha. Apart from them, Ajai Choudhary, co-founder of HCL Technologies and chairman of the taskforce for electronics, MEITY and chairman of FICCI Start-Up Committee was the chief guest of the thematic session. Nivruti Rai, country head of Intel India graced the inaugural session with her presence as Guest of Honor.

Speaking at the valedictory session, Pratap Keshari Deb, Minister of MSME said, “Over the years, the state of Odisha has been pioneering pathbreaking policies that have attracted significant innovation and investment in various industry sectors. Our aim is to emerge as the leading start-up hub in the country through strategic partnerships, conducive investment, and favorable policies. 

In his address, Saswat Mishra, principal secretary of the MSME Department, Government of Odisha said, “Make in Odisha Conclave 2022, is a unique opportunity to understand Odisha’s policy and regulatory environment, wherein a platform is provided for investors and potential manufacturers.”

“Through this conclave, we aim to build the State of Odisha as a preferred destination for investment and maximize the technology and innovation potential by boosting the start-up ecosystem. Through Make in Odisha Conclave 2022, we are keen to encourage start-ups not only from the IT sector but other sectors as well to be creative and convert their ideas into tangible products,” he added.

Speaking about the growing start-up ecosystem in the State, Dr. Omkar Rai, Executive Chairman, Start-Up Odisha, Government of Odisha said, “We have set up 25 active incubators and supported 1434 start-ups since 2016 of which, 590 start-ups are led by women. We intend to give additional thrust to the start-up ecosystem by granting better incentives to prospective entrepreneurs.”

“A Fund-of-Funds scheme has been promulgated by Start-Up Odisha under which Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) of national and global repute participated, thereby provisioning an investment of Rs 950 crore into state-based stat-ups. AWE Fund, IAN – Alpha Fund, Gujarat Venture Finance Limited, Unicorn India Ventures, Trillium Venture Capital, SEA Fund and PONTAQ Venture Capital are the participants of this scheme for mobilizing the provisioned investment,’ he also added. 

Ajai Chowdhry in his address said, “Today, there is a great potential for hardware start-ups. We have the design capability and we need to combine it with electronic manufacturing to make the most of this opportunity. We are a huge importing country, in terms of electronics and the time has come for us to make bold decisions, and create differentiated products by leveraging our software and hardware capabilities.”

The summit saw the signing of five memoranda of understanding (MoU) and seven letters of intent (LoI). Additionally, the Start-Up Yatra Awards were also distributed at the event. Additionally, multiple unicorn founders were felicitated by Pratap Keshari Deb, Minister for MSME and a coffee table book and impact report were released.

Since 2016, the Make In Odisha Conclave has been taking a significant role in the state’s financial affairs. This year, the summit will be running for 5 days and the state will be presenting its achievements to the world. The summit is also expecting to garner an investment of Rs 6 lakh crore.