From ruling the cricket field to being the commentator, he has done it all with perfection. And now he is all set to be the face of an upcoming Bengali business reality show Egiye Bangla (Bengal is ahead).
Yes, we are talking none other than Prince of Kolkata and former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the show on the social media, creating a buzz with opposition parties too reacting to the development, albeit with skepticism.
The show, which aims to tap young entrepreneurs of the state, is likely to be launched by the end of the year.
Objective of the show
Mamata enunciated the objective of the show, saying, “Bengal is launching an exclusive business reality show Egiya Bangla. The show will target young entrepreneurs with unique business ideas and help them to achieve their dreams. Our very own Sourav Ganguly has come forward to be the face of the show.”
The show will focus on young entrepreneurs, who have plenty of business ideas, but need helping hands to realise their dreams.
Theme
The theme of the show is Shilpa Korun, Bangla Gorun (Do Industry, Build Bengal).
Bag full of appreciation
The reality show has got a thumbs-up from the business fraternity in the state with RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group’s Chairman Sanjiv Goenka describing it as “a super initiative”.
Goenka, however, said he has not received any invite so far from the sponsors to be a judge or be part to it.
Meanwhile, MSME department secretary Rajiva Sinha said they were waiting for an announcement and “now we will begin contacting industrialists about the show.”
Another city-based industrialist Sanjay Budhia of the Patton group also hailed the ‘unique’ initiative to promote budding entrepreneurs.
MCCI President Arun Kumar Saraf wished all the success for the show which, he said, would create a supportive entrepreneurship development ecosystem in the state.
“We are trying to invite prominent industrialists in each episode who will be mentors to the winner of the episode,” Saraf said.
The panel of judges will include two industrialists – one finance sector leader and another from the core sector – and one from IIM-Calcutta, Sinha said.
Winners
Sinha explained each episode winner would get support from his department in the form of speedy clearances, mentorship from an industry, facilitation from two banks and incubation support by IIM-Calcutta.
The winners will be able to apply directly to the MSME department venture capital fund which has a corpus of Rs 200 crore, he said, but clarified that the fund being managed by a different panel did not guarantee automatic approval for VC fund for each episode winner.
(with PTI inputs)