KOCHI:
By displaying kitchen knives to soaps to ATM machines to drones for spraying pesticides, Kerala Institute for Entrepreneurship Development (KIED) gives a glimpse at the eminence of the state’s entrepreneurs at an exhibition as part of its four skills-enriching flagship programs launched today.
As many as 51 stalls at the KIED Complex in Kalamassery narrated the success stories of entrepreneurs who attended KIED’s programmes aimed at strengthening domain knowledge. The stalls display one’s penchant for innovation and leadership, which earned the praise of Industries Minister P. Rajeeve, who visited them at exhibition venue after inaugurating the programs.
The participants at the exhibition include entrepreneurs with 30 years of experience to those who recently began businesses, according to KIED Chief Executive Officer Shri Benedict William Jones. “Evidently, our training programmes have enriched their spirit and ideas to enable them rise in the field,” he added.
Agrees Mini Scaria, who runs a firm producing sanitary napkins in her native Kothamanagalam town to where she returned after a stay abroad. “I found the pads in the market giving me allergy. So I launched my own business,” she says, acknowledging the benefits of the training initiatives of KIED.
While the exhibition showed its variety in ways of packing, distribution and marketing, several of them have begun using online facilities for sales. The products include Ayurvedic medicines, textiles, handicrafts, statuettes, IoT-driven items, banking services and sanitary wares.
The KIED programs focus on developing innovation, business framework and strategic thinking to strengthen aspiring and existing entrepreneurs. Each of them seeks to foster an intimate and collaborative learning environment by allowing personalized attention and meaningful peer interactions.
The 1994-founded KIED promotes entrepreneurship among Kerala’s youth by providing them training in skill development and leadership.
