The rise of campus entrepreneurship in Nagaland
As more students step into colleges with big dreams and bigger ambitions, Nagaland is quietly building a foundation where degrees are not just certificates but stepping stones to self-reliance.
In classrooms and corridors across Nagaland, the excitement of a new academic year fills the air. Students arrive with fresh notebooks, hopeful eyes, and a shared desire: to build a better future. Over the years, access to higher education in the state has steadily improved, more colleges, more programmes, more graduates. But as numbers rise, so does a critical question: How do we ensure that education doesn’t just end with a degree, but begins with it?
One response to that question is taking shape quietly but powerfully within campuses through the growing emphasis on entrepreneurship, skill development, and innovation. A key driver of this shift is the introduction of Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC) currently active in six colleges across Nagaland. These cells aim to create a culture where students no longer wait for opportunities to knock, they are encouraged and equipped to build those opportunities themselves. Whether it’s a bamboo-based start-up, an eco-tourism idea, a bakery run from home, or a freelancing gig online, these ventures are becoming more than side hustles they are turning into viable livelihoods, often started while still in college. EDCs are emerging as safe spaces where students can try, fail, learn, and try again, cultivating a strong mind-set and instilling their confidence to bounce back from failure.
This evolving culture is also changing how students and teachers perceive learning. No longer confined to textbooks and exams, education is becoming more practical and hands-on, focused on turning classroom knowledge into real-world solutions. A commerce student might launch an online thrift store using marketing concepts learned in class. A sociology graduate could design a community-based storytelling initiative. An English major might build a content writing business, blending creative writing with digital literacy. These are not just hobbies anymore, they are legitimate career paths being shaped by young minds thinking differently.
As one young graduate who started a handmade jewellery brand during her college years puts it, “Apuni laga idea toh choto hoile bhi, mon aro kam thik para korile dangor rasta khuley bo.” (“Even if your idea is small, with the right mindset and work, it can lead to something big.”) Her words capture a shift in mind-set from waiting for permission to act, to daring to begin.
What’s perhaps even more exciting is how students are looking inward to their communities, to local resources, to native skills for inspiration. In villages, they are tapping into handicrafts. In towns, youth are finding opportunities in media & fashion. These ventures do more than just generate income, they preserve cultural heritage, support sustainable practices, and solve real, local problems. Through mentorship programmes, college workshops, and peer networks, students from even modest backgrounds are realizing that success doesn’t always require migration it can begin exactly where they are.
Of course, the path ahead isn’t without obstacles. Limited access to funding, patchy digital infrastructure, and mind-set barriers continue to pose real challenges. Yet the energy among today’s students feels different. They’re not only preparing for interviews or competitive exams, they’re also attending pitch events, managing small budgets, and thinking about how their work can create impact. There is ambition, but it is now coupled with action.
To keep this momentum alive, what’s needed is sustained and structured support, more active EDCs, strong mentorship ecosystems, access to incubators, and greater involvement from alumni, local businesses, and policymakers. If that support system is built, Nagaland can witness a generation of students who don’t just dream of jobs but create them.
Education in Nagaland is at a hopeful turning point. The question has shifted from “What job can I get?” to “What can I build?” In this shift lies the promise of a future where students are not just degree holders, but change makers, using their education to shape lives, communities, and perhaps even the world.
The Entrepreneurship Development Cell (EDC) is an initiative of Start-up Nagaland and the Investment and Development Authority of Nagaland (IDAN), and is implemented by The Entrepreneur School of Business. Through this initiative, a foundation is being laid for a generation of young entrepreneurs, equipped not only with knowledge, but also with the right initiative, support, and mind-set to turn ideas into impact.
Entrepreneur School of Business