About us
About the Bihar Entrepreneurs Association
A youth-led, not-for-profit organisation working since 2011 for the economic empowerment of youth and women through entrepreneurship — from Gaon to Global.
Why BEA exists
BEA was founded in 2011 as a not-for-profit, voluntarily-run organisation by youth to work passionately for Bihar — a state which lacked an entrepreneurial mindset and has been down on all major development indexes, with one of the lowest per-capita incomes in India.
BEA works for the economic empowerment of youth and women through entrepreneurship in the state with the largest youth population in India, especially for the underprivileged and the grassroots. In a very challenging environment in 2013, BEA started creating and supporting grassroot entrepreneurs and startups through Inspiration, Preparation and Execution.
In the past ten years it has conducted over 1.5 lakh direct interactions with youth, women and farmers through 100+ Startup Yatras — a chain of grassroot workshops run like a campaign since 2013 — and Krishi Samwad in all districts of Bihar and some in UP and Jharkhand.
EnterprisingZone & free incubation
Working on a Hub & Spoke model, BEA attracts youth to EnterprisingZone, a 7,000 sq ft internationally recognised incubation-cum-business facilitation centre run entirely through contributions and grants. Through it, BEA extends free hand-holding support to every potential entrepreneur — from ideation to execution and scale-up. BEA's work has found space in academic and research journals of global repute.
BEA runs India's first free-of-cost residential incubation programme, especially for rural youth and the underprivileged.
BEA is also constructing its own campus, Udyami Bhawan (“Entrepreneurs Building”), with a Startup Lab and Startup Hostel — completely through donations.
Policy impact
For the Government of Bihar, BEA drafted the Startup Policy and convinced the State Government at its annual Bihar Entrepreneurship Summit in 2015 to create a State Venture Capital Fund for startups and grassroot entrepreneurs. BEA has since created 200+ recognised startups and 3,000+ entrepreneurs, and completed 250+ workshops. Among them are 500+ women entrepreneurs, 200+ SC/ST entrepreneurs and differently-abled entrepreneurs, from sectors like textiles, handicrafts, IT, logistics, agri-tech, ed-tech and health-tech.
- In 2018, NITI Aayog selected BEA as the only organisation in Bihar, UP and Jharkhand in the first phase for its premier Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) project.
- The US Government selected a BEA team member for its prestigious IVLP programme for starting an incubator in South Asia. The US Ambassador and nine other ambassadors have visited BEA.
- BEA has been invited by the Governments of China and Israel to share its journey, and supported by the Governments of Taiwan and the Netherlands.
- International chapters have been formed in the US, Mauritius, the Netherlands and the Middle East.
- BEA guides district administrations in India to implement innovative policies like the District Industrial Innovation Fund.
- It initiated Pitch 4 Bihar, Udyog Samwad and AI 4 Grassroot at its AI Centre of Excellence to empower youth and women with AI.
BEA operates through membership support and has received financial support from Startup India, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Government of Bihar, the Ministry of Electronics and IT, the Ministry of MSME, the International Labour Organization and the US Department of State. It has developed a pool of 100+ globally acclaimed industry leaders as consultants and mentors.
Bihar Entrepreneurship Summit
Every year on 21st March.
Our annual, path-breaking event for ecosystem building in Bihar. From the 1st BES in 2014, every summit has been held on 21st March, attracting participants from every district of Bihar, every state and major institutions worldwide.
- BES-15
Startup Policy & ₹500 Cr fund
Gave Bihar its Startup Policy, incubation centres, an IT Park at Biscomaun and a ₹500 crore State Venture Capital Fund. Inaugurated by the Hon. Chief Minister.
- BES-17
Startup Policy launch
Launch of the Startup Policy with 4,000 participants and a Startup Expo. Inaugurated by the Hon. Chief Minister.
- BES-18
Governor inaugurates
The 5th BES was inaugurated by His Excellency the Governor of Bihar, followed by programmes with international organisations and the US Dept of State.
- BES-19
Grassroot to Global
Introduced the District Entrepreneur Award and Bihar Pravasi Sammelan.
- 2020
YES 2020 & Techathon
YES 2020 with IIM Bodh Gaya, and a Techathon with IIM Calcutta Innovation Park and MeitY. Bihar Agripreneurs Summit and Bihar Global Summit.
- BES 9–10
Agripreneurship
Focus on district-level agripreneurship and the Krishi Samwad campaign.
Krishi Samwad — from progressive farmers to agripreneurs
To boost agripreneurship at district level, BEA started the campaign “Krishi Samwad — From Progressive Farmers to Agripreneurs” in all districts of Bihar, UP and Jharkhand. A detailed need-gap analysis of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) has started with ICAR and NABARD as knowledge partners, and BEA organised an FPO conclave with NABARD to empower FPOs.
Even during COVID, BEA ran weekly webinars where ministers and global experts spoke on emerging technologies, and a series of workshops on Blockchain and Web3 was conducted by experts from MIT, USA.
