YouthNet Incubation Centre (YIC)

Erik is the founder and president of Alliance For Commercialization and Innovation Research (ACIR), ACIR is a 501 c-3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting economic development and growth through practical commercialization, entrepreneurship and innovation. Erik is a technology commercialization expert and serial entrepreneur specializing in small business startups and international market strategies. He has managed commercialization and incubation projects in 12 countries around the world, and launched and sold two logistics companies based in the United States and Russia.

Promote economic development through improving national innovation infrastructures, technology commercialization best practices and incubation of start-ups through creating key strategic partnerships with ecosystem stakeholders. Focus on successfully commercializing research and go to market strategies. Evaluate technologies for commercialization potential in both domestic and international markets and advise companies on strategies to bring those technologies to market. Work with governments on how to leverage public-private partnerships to best promote innovation and economic development on a regional and national level. Commercial reviewer for the National Science Foundation SBIR program, consultant to private investment firms, NGOs and public organizations like CRDF, the World Bank, the IC² Institute, the Ministry of Education and Science and the National Agency for Technology Development (Kazakhstan) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (India).

Hekani is the Founder of YouthNet, a recipient of the Nari Shakti Puraskar Award from the President of India. A lawyer by profession, she has an LLM, degree from the University of San Francisco, and trained extensively at Harvard University, American University in Washington D.C., Amnesty International- San Francisco and the United Nations Head Quarters in New York. An alumnus of Lady Shri Ram College and Law Faculty in Delhi University, Hekani worked both at the Supreme Court of India and Delhi High Court. After quitting as a Partner of a New Delhi law firm in 2005, she returned home to Nagaland to start YouthNet with a group of friends of young professionals, believing in the power of ordinary people to make extraordinary change.

Founder Designpreneur at Studio Predilection and NID alum, Margaret Zinyu is all about luxury handmade textiles, her label Woven Threads has bagged the World Craft Council - Asia Pacific Region, Award of Excellence 2018 & EDIDA Elle Décor 2020 for fabrics. She is also a craft consultant and trainer in upskilling and a part-time design educator. Her Design Studio collaborates with co-operative societies and like – minded people in sustainable handloom, handicraft sector and livelihood skills. Her industry experience includes home exports, garment & paper manufacturing, museum & space design, colour and materials for Car design industry.

Abokali founded Organic Nagaland (ON) in 2011, an organization focused on networking local organic growers, training and empowering Naga men and women at the grassroots level. ON distributes local products and also runs a retailing outlet which sells certified organic food products called Infinity Organic located at Dimapur and Zunheboto. Abokali holds an MBA degree in Entrepreneurship, University of Liverpool, UK and is also an avid writer.

Tomtsa worked with YouthNet for the Impact 5000 by 18 program started in 2013. Given his passion for entrepreneurship in Nagaland he continues to assist YouthNet in programs which strive to create real impact in Nagaland's private sector. Tomtsa has worked in companies across industries in India and the US for over 7 years and is currently enjoying working in and learning about Product Management in the tech industry in Europe. An alumus of IIM, Lucknow, and some of his expertise includes Product Management, Operations, Supply Chain Management, Analytics, SQL, Python, Project Management and Program Management.

Yanpvuo is a senior consultant for the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG), attached to Kohima Smart City & IDAN (Investment & Development Authority of Nagaland) and the Department of Information Technology & Communication. He is also the co-founder of Kley Enterprise, the franchisee for Tata Trent Ltd - Westside which is established in Dimapur city, Nagaland. Having a love for adventure sports and music, he
is also the co-founder of Native Station, an organisation with a primary focus to promote adventure sports in Nagaland and the North-East region of India and the co-founder of Indihut, an online platform to promote and support musicians in North East India. Indihut is now one of the most popular music website in North-East India. He was formerly a consultant at Ernst & Young.

Ben Imchen is the proprietor of Elysium Enterprise, a Nagaland based IT business entity involved in providing customized software solutions to various Government entities within the state. He completed his B. Tech and M. Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in 2005. Elysium Enterprise works to provide efficient, relevant and innovative solutions that meet the local needs of the Government while incorporating the latest in technology. He is also a Director and one of the Founders of ColosseumTech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., registered in
Hyderabad. With offices in Hyderabad, Nagaland, Pune, Noida, Bangalore and Chennai, and about 7 years of experience in Global Positioning System (GPS) based Vehicle Tracking and Fleet Management, it is one of India’s oldest players in this arena. ColosseumTech, with its proprietary Falcon AVL Platform (www.falconavl.com), has clients such as Microsoft, Deloitte, Mahindra Satyam, Dell, Cyient, Novartis, TechMahindra, P&G etc.