Unlocking Entrepreneurship: Transforming Tripura

Entrepreneurship can help resolve the problem of unemployment in Tripura

- Bhairavi Jani

The landlocked state of Tripura may be the third-smallest in size in India, but its opportune borders with Bangladesh to the north, south, and west, and the Indian states of Assam and Mizoram to the east affords the State a unique trade and business advantage. While less than 28% of Tripura is arable, over 50% of its population depends on agriculture and allied activities making it an agrarian State. With its salubrious climate and undulating topography owing to the hills, entrepreneurship could open vistas for the State’s youth and help resolve the problem of unemployment, changing the socio-economic situation in the State for the better.

Tripura has risen four notches higher to #22 in India on World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index, according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion’s (DIPP) from #26 in 2015. But much like other states in the North East Region (NER), and for that matter, several in the country, entrepreneurship in Tripura is not the first career choice. Except in family run businesses, spotting an entrepreneur in the State until a few years ago was rare. The reasons for this lack of entrepreneurial culture are plenty, major ones being economic and social uncertainty, and lack of market access available for a first-generation entrepreneur.

In Tripura, people entering the workforce look for economic stability. More and more entrepreneurs are exploring unconventional avenues like activated carbon from bamboo, honeycomb paper products, and e-waste recycling for profitability. But the government of the day will need to take ambitious steps to transform the entrepreneurial landscape of the State.

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