It is often said that Nagaland’s economy is a ‘salaried economy’, meaning the state’s economy is largely dependent on government spendings in the form of salary paid to its one lakh plus employees. Every time there is a talk on the state’s economy and its development, the common refrain is that Nagaland should move from its ‘consumer economy’ to becoming a ‘producer economy’.
Now, if that is the case for Nagaland, one can easily understand what Mokokchung’s economy is like. Leaving aside the rest of the state for a moment, it is evidently clear that Mokokchung’s economy is not even half of what Kohima or Dimapur is. In such an unfriendly economic situation, it is no wonder that almost everybody would go to any extent just to land a government job and for obvious reasons.
The pursuit of finding a government job becomes a natural trait, almost like it is the only real purpose of one’s existence. Parental and societal pressure on the youngsters to find, or at least seek, a government job is overwhelming. Success in life is measured by whether one has a government job or not. In such a scenario, pursuing entrepreneurship and self employment becomes a foolhardy job, a swim against the current. The overall economic situation is not encouraging and the society is not supportive; there is simply no ecosystem for entrepreneurship to thrive.
Regardless of the fact that it is the entrepreneurs who create wealth, which in turn helps develop the economy and alleviate the unemployment problem, they are not given adequate support or the recognition they deserve. Rather, their proficiency is conveniently overlooked while their flaws are put under the scanner. However, even in such an unfriendly environment, there are a number of young entrepreneurs and self-employed young people, most of whom are first generation in the profession, who are carving a niche for themselves in Mokokchung.
We have to understand that these young people are equally talented and hardworking as their peers in Kohima and Dimapur or elsewhere. In fact, an entrepreneur in Mokokchung is required to put in twice as much effort into his business as an entrepreneur in bigger markets like Kohima or Dimapur in order just to produce the same results. Thus, society must assume the responsibility of supporting the young entrepreneurs and self-employed youths in Mokokchung.
There are many ways in which society can motivate the young business people – starting from buying their products and services to recognizing and felicitating them. Not everybody can start and successfully run a business but everybody can certainly lend support. An economy cannot flourish without entrepreneurs but it requires the participation of the members of the society, the consumers, for the entrepreneurs to contribute towards development of the economy. They are interrelated.
Society benefits more than the entrepreneurs themselves when there is thriving entrepreneurship in an economy. Likewise, Mokokchung benefits most when entrepreneurship thrives in Mokokchung. But for that to happen, we must first create the ecosystem.