Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu pitched for establishing a close linkage between universities and industry to mentor and handhold students with novel business ideas.

Addressing a global Entrepreneurs summit through video conference from Visakhapatnam, Naidu asked universities to set up incubation centres to tap and nurture entrepreneurial talent among youngsters. He also appealed to the corporate sector to come forward to fund and promote entrepreneurial ecosystem on university campuses.

Noting that the youth comprise about 65 per cent of India’s population, Naidu stressed that the vast energies of the talented youth should be tapped fully and their mindset should be changed from being job-seekers to job-creators. The vice president also wanted a special drive to be launched for promoting entrepreneurship among women. There is a huge potential for promoting women entrepreneurs in the country, he said, according to an official statement,” he said.

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Referring to various studies, he said most entrepreneurial countries in the world are also the most prosperous and entrepreneurship makes people happier and more fulfilled.

Highlighting that entrepreneurship is not only about profits, Naidu said it is also about making people’s lives better through education, healthcare and basic human rights. “It is about valuing both competition and compassion.” Talking about the challenges thrown up by the COVID-19 pandemic, the vice president said this is the time to turn adversities into opportunities. Calling upon youngsters to come out with innovative ideas to meet the emerging challenges, he wanted the creation of an ecosystem that can enable many innovative ideas to be translated into promising start-ups.