Pic: Two days’ free workshop on green business sensitised 20 youth from agriculture & rural backgroundDharwad: As youth drift away from farming and horticulture, a new initiative in Dharwad aims to bring them back to the soil. Startup experts, agriculturalists, and entrepreneurs have joined hands to train young people to become green entrepreneurs by utilising ancestral land and creating value-added products. Workshops and incubation support with seeding capital are being planned.PV Hiremath, chief executive officer of Nature First Eco Village, Halligeri, told TOI that recently a youth, who owns 5 acres of agricultural land, came to the eco village seeking a job. “He pursued a postgraduate degree too. As we interacted with him, we found out that he is capable of running a business, but lacked the know-how. This incident motivated us to hold a workshop to sensitise our youth to become green entrepreneurs. We held a workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday for 20 youths at no cost, providing accommodation and food,” he added.Mahesh Mashal, a motivational speaker, said that he attended the workshop as a resource person and observed that laziness is prominant among youth, and they are not ready to take risks to become green entrepreneurs. “We sensitised them. Youth should identify the problem or fear and come out with a solution. They should learn to calculate the maximum possible loss when they venture into entrepreneurship. There are plenty of opportunities in green energy involving solar power, windmills, food & pharma sectors, which are never-ending businesses. Youth hailing from agricultural and rural families should intend to mint money from their own ancestral assets,” he advised.Prof SM Shivaprasad, dean outreach, IIT Dharwad, commented that today’s youth are disturbed as they are not getting jobs. “If they get a small lead, they can achieve on their own. Efforts of confidence building in the agri and horticulture sectors are the need of the hour. There are many new business opportunities. There is a big scope for startups in this sector,” he opined.Agriculture assistant director Dr Channappa Angadi stated that there are many schemes from both state and union govts for green entrepreneurs, and youth can avail themselves of them by approaching the websites concerned. Chandrakant Shigli, a participant from Shirahatti, said the workshop was successful in building confidence and sensitising us on business opportunities. “One model I observed here is of the eco fridge. When refrigerators are emitting CFCs causing pollution, there is good scope for eco fridge business, which I want to work on starting now,” he shared.
