Shillong, Oct 12: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma today said that the State’s goal is to build a lasting ecosystem and culture of entrepreneurship, where young people see Meghalaya as a place where new ideas take shape.
Speaking at the Chief Minister’s Youth and Innovation Summit 2026 in Shillong, he stated that various entrepreneurial programmes and competitions would encourage investors and industry leaders to look at Meghalaya and say that “a lot is happening out there.” He described the Government’s role as that of a catalyst, providing the platform, policies and support needed to foster entrepreneurship.
“It doesn’t happen with one competition. It doesn’t happen with one IT park. It’s something that you start feeling. It’s just happening again and again and again,” he said, explaining that the real aim is sustained momentum. “I want that kind of momentum to be created here, that feeling among entrepreneurs that this is the place where innovation takes place.”
During the programme, he announced the winners of the Chief Minister’s Business Catalyst (CMBC) Challenge, launched the Chief Minister’s Innovation Contest 2026 and the PRIME Digital Service Provider Platform (PRIME DSPP), and handed over grants to PRIME beneficiaries.
As part of the CMBC Challenge, students from various colleges and universities presented business proposals that were evaluated by an expert jury. The selected proposals included the manufacture of soap from used cooking oil, compost production from Iewduh market waste, cold storage facilities for Lakadong turmeric and Khasi mandarin, and single-origin coffee from Mawkyrwat.
The PRIME Digital Service Provider Platform (PRIME DSPP) is Meghalaya’s own doorstep services platform, which will enable citizens to book verified local professionals for carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, cleaning, salon services, tailoring and more. The platform charges zero commission, allowing service providers to set their own prices and build a public rating and digital payment record. It will be extended to district headquarters in a phased manner.
The Chief Minister’s Innovation Contest 2026 is open to Meghalaya residents with a working prototype. It connects innovators with Government departments, technical experts and pathways to adoption, enabling locally relevant solutions to scale. Together, the three initiatives form a pipeline: CMBC develops business ideas among college students, PRIME incubates and funds enterprises, and the Innovation Contest identifies working solutions that the Government can adopt in its own programmes and services.
Pointing to the growth of the State’s IT sector, the Chief Minister said the second IT Park, recently inaugurated, has been fully allotted, and that companies have asked for a third phase. “The pace at which we are seeing IT companies coming in, investing in Meghalaya and looking at our human resource to do different kinds of work, is really amazing,” he said.
He emphasised that young people are at the centre of this effort. “We are just the catalyst. It is you who are at the centre and the heart of all of this,” he told the gathering. “We do few things, but we do them well. We focus on them, and when nobody is believing in it, we still keep believing in it.”
The Chief Minister said that while Meghalaya has long held competitions in music, dance and fashion, there have been fewer opportunities for competitions in innovation, mathematics and science. He said this was an idea he had been considering for the past eight years. “Nothing motivates an individual like competition,” he said, adding that ideas that do not succeed should not discourage anyone from thinking differently.
Calling expenditure on youth an investment, he said, “I am not spending, I am investing, because every rupee we spend and invest on our youth is going to have returns.” He also highlighted the State’s early childhood development model, which he recently presented to the Prime Minister, as part of a broader commitment to human capital development.
He urged central institutions in Shillong, including IIM, NIFT and the Indian Institute of Fashion Design, to offer short-term courses and certificate programmes for local youth and entrepreneurs. “When our people get to train for 5 days, 10 days, 15 days, it’s a game changer. They are learning from the best,” he said.
Thanking Dr. Theodore Lyngdoh and the IIM Shillong team for leading the CMBC programme, the Chief Minister assured continued Government support for such initiatives. “Whatever we have done in the last few years is just the foundation. Now the real work starts,” he said.
