Bhagwant Mann Govt turns ‘Job Seekers’ into ‘Job Givers’; launches first 2-day Residential Student Entrepreneurship Bootcamp in Chandigarh
- Under Bhagwant Mann Govt’s Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum/Business Curriculum, students are already studying entrepreneurship while actively building businesses, with several generating revenue & others showing strong growth potential
- From small-scale mushroom cultivation to digital service ventures, young business people from Government ITIs & Polytechnics showcase Punjab’s new entrepreneurship wave
- Bhagwant Mann Govt brings Innovation Mission Punjab & successful startup founders together to equip young business people with structured training in business modelling, go-to-market strategy, unit economics and venture validation
- First in quarterly series, Punjab Govt builds sustained pipeline of student-led ventures from Government ITIs & Polytechnics across Punjab
- 36,139 students across ITIs & Polytechnics are studying and actively working on real business ideas; 40+ real ventures identified for Special Bootcamp
CHANDIGARH, March 1:
In a significant shift from traditional education models that prepare youth only to seek jobs, the Bhagwant Mann Government has begun systematically transforming students into job creators. As part of this vision, the Punjab Government has organised the first two-day Residential Student Entrepreneurship Bootcamp at Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA), Chandigarh, for 40 high-potential young business people selected from Government ITIs and Government Polytechnics across Punjab.
This is not a symbolic workshop. It marks the beginning of a quarterly series aimed at building a structured pipeline of youth-led enterprises, ensuring that technical education in Punjab directly leads to business creation, income generation, and local employment opportunities.
Under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the Punjab Government has introduced the Entrepreneurship Mindset/Business Curriculum across 322 ITIs and 91 Polytechnics, including 137 Government ITIs and 26 Government Polytechnics. The objective is simple but transformative: students should not complete their technical courses merely with a certificate in hand, but while simultaneously building viable business ideas.
Today, 36,139 students across Punjab, including 28,967 from ITIs and 7,172 from Polytechnics, are not just studying entrepreneurship in theory. They are actively working on business ideas through a structured digital platform. Instead of writing exams alone, they are identifying real customer problems, designing services or products, testing ideas, creating prototypes, reaching out to customers, and in many cases, generating early revenue.
For the first bootcamp, 40 real entrepreneurial ventures have already been identified and selected from across Government technical institutes in sectors such as retail, professional services, e-commerce, digital platforms, engineering services, manufacturing, and product development.
The 40 young business people selected for the bootcamp, 20 from Government ITIs and 20 from Government Polytechnics, were shortlisted based on course completion, quality of assignments, clarity of business concept, customer outreach efforts, prototype creation, service delivery, and revenue generation. They represent all districts across Punjab; from Amritsar & Gurdaspur to Ferozepur to Fazilka; from Ludhiana & Bathinda to Rupnagar and SAS Nagar.
Importantly, this initiative is already translating into income. While some are at the idea or testing stage, several are earning between ₹5,000 and ₹12,000 per month from ventures spanning professional services, retail, and product-based enterprises. This demonstrates a clear behavioural shift, where youth are choosing to build something of their own instead of waiting for entry-level employment opportunities.
Among the inspiring examples is a young entrepreneur from Government ITI Muktsar running a small-scale mushroom cultivation business supplying directly to local consumers, shops, and restaurants, demonstrating a demand-linked agri-based model. Another young entrepreneur from Government ITI Bathinda has launched an organic skincare initiative producing handmade soaps and herbal hair oils and marketing them through Instagram and WhatsApp. A cosmetology student from Government ITI (W), SAS Nagar (Mohali) operates a nail studio promoted through digital platforms. A refrigeration and air-conditioning student from Government ITI Ludhiana runs an air conditioner repair and maintenance service using platforms such as Justdial and Dukaan instead of investing in a physical shop. Other ventures include online tuition services, digital marketing, online retail, tailoring, and digital content creation.
These examples illustrate how technical skills in plumbing, cosmetology, refrigeration, IT support, and other trades are being directly converted into livelihood opportunities under the Bhagwant Mann Government’s reform-driven approach.
The two-day residential bootcamp further strengthens these ventures. Day 1 focuses on design thinking, identifying real problems, and structuring the business through the Business Model Canvas to define value proposition, customer segments, revenue streams, and cost structures. Day 2 concentrates on market entry strategy, customer acquisition, marketing material creation such as brochures or pitch decks, and understanding pricing and financial viability. The programme concludes with a Student Venture Showcase, where these young business people present their ventures and receive structured feedback.
Innovation Mission Punjab is leading the facilitation of the bootcamp, bringing ecosystem expertise to the programme. Four established entrepreneurs will interact with these young business people to share practical insights on starting, sustaining, and scaling ventures. Confirmed participants include Mr. Chhotu Sharma of CS Soft Solutions Infotech, Mr. Punit Jindal of Vision AI, Mr. Bipanjit Singh of Digiwah, and Ms. Manpinder Kaur of Natchkin.
By embedding entrepreneurship within Government ITIs and Polytechnics and supporting youth beyond the classroom through mentorship and exposure, the Bhagwant Mann Government is institutionalising a structural shift in Punjab’s education model. Technical education is no longer ending with certificates. It is evolving into a pathway toward business ownership, income generation, and local employment creation.
This initiative signals a larger policy direction: Punjab’s youth will not just compete for limited jobs, they will increasingly create new opportunities for themselves and for others.
