AR Bhat
Kashmir offers immense opportunities in agriculture, horticulture, food, clothing, tourism, handicrafts, and other untapped resources, in order to foster entrepreneurship in Kashmir but still it has been a challenge for decades. Most of the opportunities have not been leveraged to their full potential due to socioeconomic factors and conflict in the region. This has forced the erstwhile state to struggle on gaining economic strength in the face of prevailing unemployment and dwindling tourism.
The Valley needs to look for sustainable solutions for strengthen its economic base, which can only come from growth at grassroot level. Although Industrial development in Kashmir is being touted as means to provide a much-needed boost to the beleaguered local economy, young entrepreneurs are dealing with a lack of support and unfavorable circumstances for starting business ventures but still, the youth here, amidst all the challenges, have been displaying entrepreneurial zeal and moving towards progress. It is vital to foster an innovative mindset and develop interest in entrepreneurship to create a catalyst that will drive developmental objectives including growth, employment, and equity. For entrepreneurs to successfully contribute towards the society, they need vital resources such as funding, mentoring, human capital, suitable infrastructure, and supportive government policies.
In Jammu & Kashmir, hardly 8-9 percent of the labor force is employed by the Public sector. Promoting MSME’s could nudge economic activity which will enhance the skills and potential of the youth in Valley whose employment options today are limited. Promotion by government and private individuals should be in terms of up skilling and training the workforce and preparing them ahead of time.
Entrepreneurs and small businesses, despite having the potential to provide solutions to various socioeconomic problems in the Valley, are struggling to succeed because of problems that are multi-fold. The young graduates in the area prefer a job over exploring entrepreneurial opportunities. Due to the absence of an ambitious entrepreneurial class with an outward looking approach, the rest of them only a few examples to emulate and to outgrow the dogma of ‘job-security’ and take entrepreneurship as a career option. The lack of expertise and innovation of technology also contributes to the situation. Other challenges such as lack of adequate infrastructure in terms of power, transportation, regular interruptions in internet and communication channels further impact existing businesses massively, resulting in a direct blow to their revenue and investment. The geography of the state is a major drawback, making it difficult for major industrial development to happen, and frequent policy changes due to unstable governments also adds to the overall difficulties faced by entrepreneurs and small businesses.
The most pressing demands of the entrepreneurs in the Valley were to meet functional needs such as power supply, safe place to work, non-interrupted internet connectivity, along with a strong industrial policy framework and ease of doing business. Focused and consistent support from the government alongside an instituted structure to foster entrepreneurship can help address challenges and provide J&K’s economy the boost it needs. Realizing this, the administration and various regulatory authorities in the state have started to take action. While creating a support framework for entrepreneurs is vital to cultivate a start-up ecosystem in J&K, it is equally important to pay close attention to the development of skills of the youth in the state as well.
The idea is to take entrepreneurship beyond urban areas and incubate start-ups and small businesses in the rural areas as well and to set an example of how strategic steps taken by the government could create a friendly environment for investors, infrastructure, and developmental framework to foster entrepreneurs and uplift the economy in a sustainable manner.
