MP launches initiative to nurture startups
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Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada MP Capt Brijesh Chowta on Saturday launched 'Bolpu – A Dawn of Opportunities', a flagship initiative aimed at nurturing startups, empowering budding entrepreneurs, and accelerating early-stage ventures in the region.
The initiative is designed to offer a comprehensive support ecosystem, including funding, mentorship, market access, and continuous advisory on govt schemes to help founders build, launch, and scale innovative businesses rooted in local strengths but with national and global potential. Ten promising enterprises will be shortlisted each year. Through eight-week sprints, startups will receive expert guidance to ideate, build, test, and launch.
Aligned with PM Narendra Modi's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat by 2047, Capt Chowta said the initiative draws inspiration from his election manifesto task sheet titled 'Nava Yuga Nava Patha', aimed at reigniting the spirit of entrepreneurship in coastal Karnataka. "After returning from the Army, I wanted to contribute to India's transformative journey. Many second-generation entrepreneurs in this region end up in tech jobs in Bengaluru and metros due to lack of support here.
Bolpu hopes to change that," he said.
The MP stressed that Bolpu will lay special focus on women entrepreneurs and aims to create at least 50 success stories in the next five years. "At a time when Mangaluru is often in the headlines for the wrong reasons, we need to present models of success that reflect our true potential," he said.
92% Mangalureans open to returning home: MP
About 92% of Mangalureans working outside the region and around the globe expressed a strong desire to return home and work in the region if suitable opportunities are available, Chowta said, citing findings from the recent 'Come Home Tiger' survey conducted by Rohith Bhat, founder of TiE Mangaluru, as part of the Silicon Beach programme.
The survey aimed to gauge interest among professionals from the region who are currently employed outside the region in relocating back to their hometowns.
Johnson Tellis, Co-founder and CEO of Inunity, said, "When companies are built and nurtured by the people of Mangaluru, they carry with them a deep-rooted sense of responsibility to give back. The initiative to support at least 10 ideas or ventures every year is not just about startups, but about leadership. Each of those ventures represents a seed of leadership that will shape future cohorts."
He said that the focus is on bringing together key entities: ecosystem enablers, thought leaders who reshape business thinking, and the globally spread Mangaluru diaspora.
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