The I Create Foundation, a non-profit initiative of the Chatterjee Group, is holding a contest among school and college students to nurture entrepreneurship talents.

Institutions that have been teaching entrepreneurship in the four regional centres of I Create will take part in the I Create-NFTE Business Plan Competition.

Winners of the four semi-finals, to be held in the four regions of the country, will take part in the national-level contest in Jaipur on November 17. The national winner will fly to New York on a sponsored visit to attend the NFTE International Award Ceremony.

The semi-final in the eastern region will be held at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture on November 4. The participants are St Xavier’s College, Bhawanipur Gujarati Education Society, Jogesh Chandra Chowdhury College, Goenka College of Commerce and Business Administration and Narendrapur Ramakrishna Mission School.

“Of the 40 applicants, 20 have been selected for the semi-final on the basis of the two-page business plan outlines they had submitted,” said Sreoshi Moitra, director of I Create, West Bengal. The participants will be judged primarily on their creativity and presentation, practicality of their business plans and the accuracy of their numerical statements.

All participants will be awarded certificates and the winners will receive cash awards, prizes and seed money at various stages of the contest.

I Create, founded in 2000, is dedicated to entrepreneurship development and aims to create job creators, instead of job-seekers. It is organising the contest to motivate students to consider entrepreneurship as a viable career option.

The other partner in the contest is the New York-based National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. It has pledged support to I Create’s effort to start entrepreneurship training in schools and colleges. I Create will adapt two books on entrepreneurship by NFTE and will introduce them to students at the regional centres.