What motivates small businesses to come forward and start selling their ideas? Is it funding, mentorship, or access to marketing ideas and tools?
The answer is all the above! To ensure small businesses in every part of India get these opportunities, we collaborated with EastMojo for an exclusive 30-day event that promotes North East businesses and entrepreneurs!
An overview of small businesses in North East India
Over the past few years, this region has gained popularity for its potential economic growth. Despite existing challenges, many new businesses have come alive in the past few years. According to Forbes, many young entrepreneurs are returning to their hometowns in the northeast with one goal – to develop their states and set up a business.
“…the numbers of MSMEs in the North- East Region, including Sikkim in the MSME Sector accounts for a total of 10.64 lakh MSMEs which is quite significant comparing to other parts of the country.
Assam, popularly called the Gateway to North-East India has the highest number of MSMEs estimated at 6.62 lakhs, housing numerous industries like tea, agriculture and allies, sericulture and tourism.
Coming second in the list is Tripura followed by Manipur, Meghalaya, and Arunachal Pradesh.
The countdown list feature Nagaland and Sikkim on seventh and eight position in the list respectively; owing to their geographical isolation from the back stream and communication bottleneck.” – From the desk of the MSME Ministry.
North East entrepreneurship potential
The potential for business growth in North East India is huge. The states heavily rely on imports from the rest of India to meet their needs but the government has been focussing on improving skill development and nurturing businesses in the region to reach their full potential.
One of the major challenges the Northeast faces is poor infrastructure development for its prospective businesses. Given how the pandemic also would limit any scope of economic growth, these businesses need to go online.
Northeast India is blessed with tons of natural resources and some of the most thriving sectors in the region include –
- Agriculture
- Tea
- Food processing
- Handicrafts
- Tourism
To boost entrepreneurship in the region, Instamojo has partnered with Eastmojo, a media giant in the North East India, to host the biggest business plan event – The North East Launchpad.
Instamojo X EastMojo – The NorthEast LaunchPad
The North East Launchpad is a 30-day business-plan event for budding entrepreneurs from the NorthEast region of India.
To this day, the North East remains a gold mine of untapped business opportunities. Many aspiring business people still do not have access to platforms that can help them reach out to customers all over the country.
With this event, we aim to open up new entrepreneurial possibilities for business ideas in all the North East Indian states and encourage aspiring businesses to come forward and participate.
#NortheastLaunchpad: The event is brought to you by Instamojo, India’s biggest DIY e-commerce builder and payment gateway.#EastStory #NortheastIndia #InstaMojo https://t.co/pNBJigeGyk
— EastMojo (@EastMojo) July 5, 2021
How does NorthEast Launchpad work?
The business-plan competition is a 30-day event that will encourage budding entrepreneurs to create their own online stores and create buzz around their websites.
Step 1 – Participants sign up and create their online store on Instamojo
Step 2 – They then head over to www.northeastlaunchpad.com and submit their store link, business plan, GTM strategy on the website to officially register in the competition.
Step 3 – Once submitted, the businesses will have to create hype around their store and generate orders, get traffic to their store for 30 days.
The event is now closed
North East Launchpad event details and schedule
Once you register, you can join the WhatsApp community of entrepreneurs. (Link on the website)
You will get a chance to interact with several industry experts and learn about different business topics. The event includes LIVE webinars to give you a chance to talk to marketing, legal, and finance experts for your small business.
You can keep a track of our upcoming live sessions once you join our WhatsApp community.
Check North East Launchpad event schedule here
Meanwhile, all participants will have 30 days to promote and generate traffic and revenue to their Instamojo online store.
Businesses are shortlisted based on –
- Revenue generated till August 7th, 2021
- Total number of orders received till August 7th, 2021
- Traffic generated to store till Aug 7th
The Awards!
Instamojo and Eastmojo will shortlist 10 participants after 30 days. Based on the semi-final round, choose the ultimate winner of the Northeast launchpad. The winner stands to win a chance to get their startup funded with a cash prize of ₹50,000/- and business benefits worth ₹10 Lakhs!
Launchpad Partners & Supporters
Marketing partner – upGrowth
UpGrowth is a growth hacking marketing company that enables new, as well as established businesses to achieve rapid and sustainable growth. UpGrowth uses data to understand what clicks with customers to ensure consistency in marketing on the right channels. The company is also set to mentor aspiring entrepreneurs in a LIVE webinar hosted exclusively for WhatsApp members.
Marketing partner – deAsra
deAsra is a not-for-profit company, set up to help small businesses. The company supports mass entrepreneurship; and commits to enabling people to successfully manage and grow their businesses. If you are starting a new business, you can also check out deAsra’s course with mojoVersity to find your business funds.
Compliance partner – Legalwiz.in
LegalWiz.in is a leading business professional services provider in India. Thousands of Startups and SMEs rely on LegalWiz.in to register private limited companies, LLP registration, trademark registration, drafting legal documents and managing books of accounts. Learn all about compliance with the Legalwiz curated mojoVersity course for free!
Incubation partner – AIC -SMU
Atal Incubation centre – Sikkim Manipal University works closely with the Government to provide young entrepreneurs seed funding, grants, co-working spaces, and more. The venture is set up inside the Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology campus.
How to set up Instamojo online store?
Set up your free Instamojo online store in 2 minutes. You can check out our guide to set up or watch our tutorial below. Also, with the Instamojo free online store, you get –
- Online payment solutions with over 100+ payment modes
- Unlimited product uploads
- Free in-built marketing tools
- Shipping with mojoXpress
- Faster payout options
