Applications are open for 2019 Hornbill First Cut Inter-collegiate Entrepreneurship Competition

Entrepreneurship is the need of the hour in our region, the growth of which should go a long way in addressing our rising unemployment concern. ‘First Cut’ has been conceptualized to inculcate the entrepreneurial culture early-on amongst our youth and has completed 5 successful editions. This activity-based competition gives an opportunity for students to come up with a business idea and execute it. Students form teams and each team is given a seed capital of Rs. 20,000 to execute ideas within a stipulated time period. The objective is to educate students about entrepreneurship and opportunities in the private sector while giving them a taste of the challenges that they will face in the business environment.

The 2019 edition of the competition will be conducted under the theme “Out of the box”, the reason for the theme is to bring out the creativity/innovation through products/services and make them unique & attractive. We want the students to use their creative thinking to formulate a business idea in terms of products or services in Nagaland. In general, the business plan should be constructed in such a way that the idea is fresh and applicable in business. The student can use all sources of resources in terms of creating a service or a product which they can sell and attract the customers. It is mandatory for the participants to have at least a product or service they will be providing to be completely new or innovative which will cover the theme ‘Out of the box’ which authenticates the product or service as ‘Made in Nagaland’.

General Guidelines

  • The competition is open to all undergraduate and graduate students. It is the prerogative of the college authorities to select team/teams from any batch and send their students for the competition. We believe participation in the event will benefit the institutions as well as the students since the competition involves a number of publicity activities that could go a long way in promoting the institutions that the teams represent.
  • The competition dates are from 1st Dec to 8th Dec 2019. The students participating will have to be fully involved in their respective business activities throughout the day during all these dates.
  • The first step is to apply. Each college may send applications consisting of one or two teams. Each team must contain 5 students. To apply, the teams must fill the application forms with the following details:

Name of college and district

Name of the 5 students (each team)

1 contact person with their contact details from each team

Name of business activity

Along with the application forms, the teams must formulate a business plan and submit the plans 2 weeks prior to the date of orientation.

  • Applicants may fill in their forms here (Please fill up this form only after you’re thorough with the General Guidelines)
  • Each team’s formulated business plans under the theme ‘Out of the box’ must be submitted to youthnet1@gmail.com.
  •  After all the application forms and business plans are received, there will be a preliminary screening process. YouthNet will shortlist teams who can participate. More details may be required from the selected teams before the competition.
  • A day orientation on entrepreneurship will be conducted for the students on 29th November 2019, where they will learn basic business concepts such as book-keeping, revenues and profits, sales and marketing etc. We believe the workshop will be extremely beneficial even if they do not pursue a business career in the future.
  • After the workshop is conducted, the students should immediately start working on their businesses. YouthNet team will monitor and evaluate the progress of the teams.
  • Any amount earned over and above the initial capital will be retained by the teams. The initial capital i.e. Rs.20,000 will be returned to YouthNet at the end of the competition irrespective of whether the profits exceed the amount or not.
  • A winner will finally be chosen after a detailed evaluation process. The result will be declared at the closing ceremony of the Hornbill Festival 2019.
  • The winner will be chosen NOT based on profits alone but based on many parameters. The teams will be assessed on both qualitative and quantitative parameters which are: Novelty of Idea, Sustainability and Scalability, Revenues, Profits, Operations/Logistics Management, Cost Management, Time Management, Division and Management of Labour.
  • Teams are encouraged to use products/services that are low cost so that the number of transactions and interactions with customers is high. We believe high interaction with customers will enhance the experience of the students.
  • The businesses are to be undertaken in Kohima. YouthNet will be reimbursing the travel expenses of the teams from other districts based on the receipts of expenses (5 x single person taxi fare). Teams should make their own accommodation arrangements in Kohima.
  • There will be an entry fee of Rs. 500 per student i.e. Rs. 2500 per team. This will be used as part of the winner’s corpus. Only teams who qualify for the competition need to pay the entry fee.

 

 

 

 

 

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