Peren startup programme brings support guidance to 25 entrepreneurs

By Nathan Brooks

Twenty-five aspiring entrepreneurs from different wards of Peren Town attended a one-day startup awareness programme at Town Hall on October 26, according to a DIPR report. The District Industries Centre (DIC), Peren, organised the event to promote entrepreneurial awareness and help participants explore business opportunities and government support schemes.

The programme was chaired by the Project Associate under the Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) initiative, DIC Peren, according to the report. The RAMP role gave the event a direct link to an existing district enterprise initiative. The session therefore sat within the department’s wider MSME development work rather than a standalone awareness event.

General Manager, DIC Peren, Kughato Sema delivered the welcome address. The DIPR report described his focus as “the importance of startups and entrepreneurship in promoting economic growth and employment generation.” Sema also outlined the programme’s objectives and the department’s vision for fostering entrepreneurship and economic development in Peren district.

Support information, not a funding announcement

The agenda combined three forms of support: entrepreneurial awareness, government funding information and mentorship. Sema tied the session to the department’s economic-development goals, including employment generation. That placed the programme within DIC Peren’s stated goals for the district.

Namzilung Pamai, Functional Manager, DIC Peren, spoke about government funding opportunities and schemes available to aspiring entrepreneurs establishing and developing businesses. Pamai’s session focused on where founders could seek public support. The DIPR report identified no grant award, funding amount or recipient at the event.

Those omissions limit what the event can be counted as. It was an awareness and information session, not a disclosed financing round. The programme exposed 25 attendees to support channels; the report provides no evidence that scheme use or business creation followed.

What does the programme change for Peren’s entrepreneurs?

For participants, the practical change was access to information about government funding, support schemes and mentorship. They heard from DIC Peren officials about establishment, development and expansion within the district’s industry function. That provided a basis for deciding which support route to investigate next.

The distinction matters because awareness does not equal funding. No business names, capital commitments, application deadlines, eligibility criteria or processing times appeared in the report. An aspiring founder’s next step is to ask DIC Peren for the scheme details the session did not specify.

Teizung Zeliang, Functional Manager, DIC Peren, conducted another session on the importance of mentorship. The report said Zeliang shared insights on “starting, developing and expanding businesses” through various entrepreneurship initiatives. The session addressed guidance at successive stages of business activity, rather than leaving funding as the only route into entrepreneurship.

For participants, the programme’s agenda translates into three practical steps:

• Explore a business opportunity and identify the government support schemes relevant to it.
• Understand the funding routes available for establishing and developing a business.
• Use insights from mentorship initiatives to guide starting, development and expansion.

None of those steps guarantees finance or success; the report makes no such claim. Their value was procedural. The session gave participants three perspectives—departmental priorities, funding channels and mentorship—from DIC Peren.

A measurable audience, an unmeasured outcome

The attendance figure gives the programme a clear scale: 25 people from different wards of Peren Town. For DIC Peren, that is a measurable outreach number. It is not, however, a measure of new ventures, jobs or funded businesses created.

The report names the officials and session topics but records no follow-up date, participant business concepts or scheme applications. It also gives no breakdown of the 25 participants by ward, sector or stage. Without those figures, the report cannot show how far the programme reached or whether awareness became action.

Follow-up will show whether participants move from guidance into support-scheme use and operating businesses. The October 26 event established an audience of 25 and a set of support themes; it did not yet establish business results. The next test is whether attendance converts into documented use of support schemes and enterprise creation.