Panel of senior citizens to be formed to provide mentorship to entrepreneurs, says Kerala CM V.D. Satheesan
A panel of senior citizens who are experts in various fields will be formed to provide managerial and technical mentorship to start-ups, Chief Minister V.D
A panel of senior citizens who are experts in various fields will be formed to provide managerial and technical mentorship to start-ups, Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan has said. He was speaking here on Thursday (August 6) after launching the third edition of the Chief Minister's Entrepreneurship Development Programme (CMEDP) of the Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC) to provide loans to Micro, Small and Medium Sector enterprises (MSMEs). “At times, entrepreneurs might have technical know-how, but will be lacking in management andmarketing skills.
The government is going to provide management and technical mentors from a panel of senior citizens who are experts in various fields that we are going to form. Through this, integration of the young and the old will also happen and we can use their wealth of experience to help the youngsters to achieve growth in thejr businesses," said Mr. Satheesan. He said that when the State government launched the Senior Citizens department, skeptics assumed it to be yet another welfare scheme.
However, the government's plan is to draw lessons of silver economy which have proved to be successful in countries like Japan and implement them in Kerala, where the life expectancy has been increasing. The government has enhanced the upper loan limit under the CMEDP to ₹5 crore so that MSMEs receive loans at 5% interest rate. The age limit of the chief entrepreneur has been increased from 50 years to 60 years.
"The KFC should have a more effective system to monitor the performance of entrepreneurial initiatives which have availed loans. We should have a system which goes beyond serving recovery notices," he said. Satheesan said that several investors have evinced interest in setting up businesses in the State.
The BriefWire