Nearly 70,000-80,000 youth join workforce every year against 2,000 formal jobs: Chief Minister
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Aug 19: With nearly 70,000 to 80,000 youth entering Meghalaya’s workforce every year but only about 1,500 to 2,000 formal jobs being created annually, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma has underlined that rural entrepreneurship or ruralpreneurship is the only sustainable path forward for employment and economic growth in the state.
“Entrepreneurship is the way forward. That is why we started PRIME and now ruralpreneurship is the only way to create jobs and attain overall economic development. This is our policy and intention,” the Chief Minister said while inaugurating RURALPRENEUR ’25 here on Tuesday.
Sangma pointed out that the state government has invested more than Rs 1,700 crore on entrepreneurs through various programmes while support for self-help groups has risen from Rs 30 crore before 2018 to over Rs 1,000 crore now.
He recalled that the state’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2018 with the Chief Minister’s Entrepreneurship Prize of Rs 1 lakh each month to encourage budding entrepreneurs.
“From that modest beginning, we slowly started to think about how to provide deeper support. The most important aspect is to create a culture of entrepreneurship – of taking risks, of seeing opportunities in problems, and of not depending solely on government jobs,” he said.
Sangma admitted that while initiatives like CM Elevate and PRIME have made strides, they have largely benefitted urban areas.
“The government has been pushing entrepreneurship and enterprise building very aggressively through CM Elevate and PRIME but we realise in those process mostly urban areas benefitted and rural areas were missing out on opportunities. And that is why we now have ruralpreneurship,” he noted.
He explained that the programme offers guidance, training, and handholding to help rural businesses reach bigger markets.
“We have realised there is a huge opportunity…it is impacting rural entrepreneurship and providing opportunities to those who did not have the platform to come to level, improve expertise and find market. Best way to support this is to buy their products and engage with them, encourage citizens and tourist to come,” he urged.
The two-day RURALPRENEUR ’25, organised by the Government of Meghalaya through PRIME Rural and the Meghalaya Basin Management Agency (MBMA), brings together rural entrepreneurs, government officials, partner institutions and industry experts to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Day One featured MoU signings with partner institutions, the release of the PRIME Rural B-B Catalogue, distribution of cheques to MBMA–SELCO beneficiaries, and certificates for PRIME Fellows and Associates. It also included networking workshops, panel discussions, GEM onboarding and cultural performances.
On Day Two, block-wise networking workshops will be led by Harshith T.R., Product Development & R&D Manager of PRIME Rural, alongside UDYAM onboarding, business registration and packaging workshops. Cultural programs by entrepreneurs and a closing ceremony will conclude the event.
The Chief Minister called the initiative a milestone, expressing hope that Ruralpreneur will empower many more entrepreneurs in the coming years, creating jobs and boosting economic development across the state.