Trivandrum: The Kerala government today announced an innovative idea contest ‘Dreamvestor’ carrying Rs five lakh as first prize, for prospective entrepreneurs and business aspirants to present their ideas before an eminent panel and explore the possibility of converting their concepts into business ventures.
Industries Minister, Shri P Rajeev, while officially launching the contest, said the selected ideas would be provided necessary handholding support such as access to incubation space in government-owned Business Incubation Centres, mentoring support to overcome the challenges, access to seed capital assistance, and market linkages. “The state government has declared Financial Year 2022-23 as the ‘Year of Entrepreneurship. As part of the entrepreneurship development initiatives, the Department of Industries & Commerce is holding the contest.”
Principal Secretary, Industries, A P M. Mohammed Haneesh; and Director, Industries & Commerce, S Harikishore, were also present.
Prospective innovators from various sectors in the state will get the opportunity to submit their ideas along with marketing plans from November 24 onwards through the official website for the contest – www.dreamvestor.in. The ideas/concepts submitted through the website will be evaluated by a panel of judges and selected 100 ideas/concepts will be given the option to elaborate their ideas in the quarter-finals. Selected 50 ideas/concepts will be considered in the semi-finals and the best 20 ideas/concepts will be selected for finals.
Those in the age group of 18-35 years (as on October 31, 2022) and who hail from Kerala shall apply. In the first round, the ideas shall be submitted from November 24 to December 23. It will be followed by the announcement of 100 contestants to the next round on January 18. In Round 4, the final between 20 contestants will be held in Thiruvananthapuram on March 1, 2023.
The winner of the first prize will get Rs five lakh while those adjudged for the second and the third prizes will be given Rs three lakh and Rs two lakh respectively. The winners of the 4th to 10th place will get Rs one lakh each while those in the 11th to 20th place will be awarded Rs. 25,000 each.