Mumbai, December 11, 2007: A national business plan competition for participants from five regions of India will be held in Mumbai on December 11, 2007 at the Indian Merchants Chamber (Walchand Hirachand Hall). 16 winners from the local and regional business plan competitions conducted in Kolkata, Vadodara, Bangalore and Jaipur will participate. I Create (NFTE India) commenced this first ever Merrill Lynch-I Create-NFTE India comprehensive program for entrepreneurship/financial education for students, teacher training, Business Plan Competition in India starting early 2007. The basic objective of this program is to educate and motivate students to consider entrepreneurship as a viable career option, provide good financial skills and teach them how to prepare a good Business Plan, a core document behind every successful business. The funding for this program has been provided by Global Philanthropy Division of Merrill Lynch.

The business plan competitions and entrepreneurship training program commenced in July 2007 and the first batch of students (of the total 3000 planned over a three year period in West Bengal, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharasthra) have already successfully completed a 40-hour entrepreneurship/financial education program for 2007. Similar programs will be conducted in 2008 and 2009. The curriculum included elements of New York based NFTE’s Founder, Steve Mariotti’s successful Young Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting Business, and Merrill Lynch’s Investment Pays off, both suitably adapted for India. Students completing the program will get certificates and opportunity to participate in the Business Plan competitions. Participating Schools/colleges will receive recognition. The top teachers will receive awards.

Local and Regional Business Plan competitions for 2007 have been held for participants from schools, colleges and NGOs in the areas where I Create Inc. and its affiliate have their operations- in the five states mentioned above. These competitions have given the students an incomparable exposure to the business world. Thousands of students aged 15 to 21 in India are expected to participate over the three year period.

Additionally, the participants receive recognition and certificates and winners receive cash awards, seed money to start their businesses at various stages of the competition. The winners of the Regional Competitions will enjoy expense paid trips to Mumbai for the finals and cash awards, and the National Winner will receive an all expense paid trip to New York, USA for the NFTE International Award Ceremony and cash award/seed money to start his/her own business.

I Create, a not for profit organization and is dedicated to entrepreneurship development through education, training, follow up activities, mentoring and counseling. It has four Regional Centers in India: West Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka and an affiliate center in Maharashtra. I Create was founded in 2000. I Create’s US partner, the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE, USA), is also a not-for –profit institute that helps youth to build businesses.

Founded in 1987, NFTE is one of the most successful youth entrepreneurship training organizations in the world. Headquartered in New York, NFTE has reached over 250,000 young people, trained more than 5,700 Certified Entrepreneurship Teachers, and continually improved its innovative entrepreneurship curriculum. Besides the USA, it is in now in 12 countries including India.