CCIK Empowers Young Entrepreneurs In Kashmir: Talents, Women-Led Start-ups In Showcase

Kashmir: Unemployment is one of the biggest challenges that society is facing nowadays. A new concept to boost the young talent who wants to get self-dependent, the Chamber for Commerce and Industries Kashmir (CCIK) provided a platform by exhibition for the budding start-ups in the Valley.  

It’s not just an exhibition; it’s a platform where young, educated talents come up with dreams of a bright future. Those young entrepreneurs who were until now able to sell their unique products through social media are provided a platform for a better quality of life.  

The Chamber for Commerce and Industries Kashmir (CCIK), providing a helping hand to the hidden talent of Kashmir who want to be self-dependent, gave a platform to around fifty start-ups to publicize their products to people through a 3-day exhibition.  

Adnan Shah, Secretary General of the of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries Kashmir, said, “As the resolution for 2024–25 of CCIK is to encourage entrepreneurship and promote start-ups, we decided to have an exhibition for young entrepreneurs. Our focus on providing a platform for the young entrepreneurs of the valley is to give them exposure to offline selling. These start-ups are mostly online, and most of them have not had any exposure to the offline retail marketing concept. We also picked up 46 women out of a total 50 stalls to give the women entrepreneurs an edge to showcase their talents. Some of these start-ups are doing well online, and for some of them, it’s time to shift to offline as well. At Chamber, we always strive to help these budding entrepreneurss."  

Among the fifty start-ups, forty-six were businesses run by women. From calligraphy art to resin art, handmade soaps, perfumes, spices, sanitary pads, clothing labels, bags, Pashmina, and home decor, creativity was on display.  

The exhibition also witnessed the amazing talent girls from the Kashmir Valley have. A girl from North Kashmir has started manufacturing pure cotton sanitary pads, which are organic and skin-friendly and claim to maintain hygiene without any side effects.  

“We have launched our products here at the exhibition for the first time. By giving us this stall, we have been given a platform to promote our sanitary napkins. We are producing these sanitary pads and manufacturing them in North Kashmir, Kupwara. A lot of ladies keep having infections and issues after using pads that have plastic and nylon in them, and that’s why we got the idea to make something very skin-friendly and hygienic. We sometimes use products that we have no idea what they are made from. That’s why I wanted to start this, and it’s a request for the ladies to check before buying a product,” said Sauleh Nisa.  

Manufacturer: Sanitary Napkins.  

The exhibition will be for three days, and upon the response of the public, the CCIK will decide to hold many such exhibitions for the youth of the Valley and will provide help to the startup that will emerge best during the exhibition.