AssamStartup – The Nest under the aegis of Industry and Commerce Department of theState Government, in the first year of its foundation has incubated 75Startups. These Startups with turnover of around 11 crore have generated 1690direct and over 40 thousand indirect employments so far.

ChiefMinister Sarbananda Sonowal called for innovation to add value to the traditionalproducts of the State to capture global market. The Chief Minister made thiscall while taking part as chief guest at "Udyam Assam – celebrating success,supporting Startup dreams", a celebratory event commemorating the success ofAssam Startup – The Nest at Ambari in Guwahati on Sunday.

Underliningthe uniqueness of traditional textiles, bell metal products etc. of the State,the Chief Minister said that these products have all the ingredients to drawpeople's attention. However, in view of changing consumer behaviour, there is aneed to be more innovative and IT enabled services would help in givingmarketing advantage to these products, he added.

ChiefMinister Sonowal on the occasion handed over cheques of first installment offinancial grants to 31 Startups incubated by the centre under the My AssamStartup ID. He also released the first edition of coffee table book 'AssamTrailblazers", which relates about the journey of Assam Startup along with thesuccessful startup stories. Besides, Sonowal launched a new initiative titled'Udyam – Youth Entrepreneurship programme' for the homecoming migrant workers.

Aspart of the event, Assam Startup – The Nest signed MoUs with 'The IndUS Entrepreneurs' (TiE), a Silicon Valley non-profit organizationand Bangalore based Sangam Ventures, a seed and early stage venture fund that invests toimprove access to sustainable energy and resource productivity solutions.