Shillong, July 12: Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday informed that the Cohort 3.0, CM’s E-Championship Challenge for entrepreneurs will soon be starting and this time the grant has been doubled from Rs 5 lakhs to Rs 10 lakhs.

During an interaction with entrepreneurs at the PRIME Hub, Sangma said that the interest free loans that they have earlier was at 25 lakhs, they have decided to increase it to Rs 50 lakhs.

Urging the entrepreneurs to spread the message and encourage people to come into this, Sangma said that alot more needs to be done and are not yet at the level where other states are.

“ we just want to assure the help we can give, we will get to it as the time comes but let’s start with something,” stated Sangma.

Recalling the time he started this concept, Sangma said that they need to promote entrepreneurship / ecosystem. “Today we are being awarded for creating the ecosystem in the state is something that makes me feel very happy, and to some extent, proud also of all of you who have made this particular goal, a reality,” said Sangma.

What seemed to be a coincidence the event held today also reminded the CM that it was on this day July 12, 2000 that he started his own internet services in the state.

Sangma said that being an entrepreneur himself, it allowed him to firsthand experience what an entrepreneur goes through when they tried to do things in the state. He added that it created that roadmap for him on what he should do if he ever got the opportunity to make a difference.

“If I were to be asked that what is the most difficult change that you need to bring in a society or in a state or in a country, then it is the change in the mindset of people. You can bring all the change you want in terms of development. You can bring the change in terms of the infrastructure, but all of it doesn’t matter till you cannot change the mindset of the people in your society,” stated Sangma.

He said in that same context, the change in the mindset that they are trying to create is about the change of entrepreneurship. The chief minister felt that a lot of people are scared to take that risk and are always looking for safer grounds.

“I am happy to see that what we are being able to achieve today through this ecosystem that we created, is that change in the mindset of people to take risk, to take calculated risk, to think differently,” expressed Sangma.