Every year PRIME identifies the 50 most promising entrepreneurs of the state through a scouting process called the “Chief Minister’s E-Champion Challenge”. The application process will be opened once a year where the entrepreneurs initially have to submit a detailed written application via an application portal. After closing of the 6 weeks application process, the received applications will be evaluated anonymously and in an unbiased manner (the jury can not see the name, website or location of the enterprise) along five scoring parameters (innovation, market potential, social impact, revenue model, business model).

The 100 entrepreneurs that receive the highest scores will be selected for the second phase of the selection. They undergo pitching training and have to submit a pitch deck and pitch video within a timeframe of two weeks. After that they have to deliver a 5 minute live pitch with a 10 minute Q&A in front of a jury panel (during pandemic times this is conducted virtually).

In the last stage, the jury deliberates, scores and gives comments on whether a startup/entrepreneur is recommended for incubation. Considering all those inputs, the TOP50 entrepreneurs are selected for incubation in the next cohort.

All jury members engaged in the process are either successful entrepreneurs, seasoned government officials or experienced industry professionals engaged in entrepreneurship development for many years.

The selected 50 entrepreneurs will be incubated with PRIME Meghalaya for a period of 9 months before the next cohort will be selected. The application window for the selection of the next cohort (Cohort 3.0) is expected to open in February/March 2022 (will be communicated via Social Media, Newsletter and on Website).