Priyadarshini Dey, a PhD student of Jadavpur University, started a digital platform a little over a year ago to provide rural schoolchildren online tutorials.

The programme has spread to six districts in Bengal and has more than 2,000 students on the rolls.

On Friday, she spoke before a group of youngsters, encouraging them to take the entrepreneurship plunge. “I could have pursued an academic career. But the impact I make in the lives of other people as an entrepreneur gives me a kick,” Dey, who started virtual platform NexConnect with two others said.

She was at the American Center at the launch of “Catch Them Young”, an initiative to promote business as a career option among students of Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand.

The programme is a collaboration between the US Consulate and Contact Base (Banglanatok dot com).

The initiative follows in the footsteps of a similar drive that started last November, titled Youth for Business. It identified some emerging and early-stage entrepreneurs who got help to turn their business ideas into sustainable business models.

Dey was one of the winners of the Youth for Business project.

“Entrepreneurship development is a proven strategy for improving the economic prospects of young people, yet it is mostly not a first choice for youth in eastern India,” Jamie Dragon, director of the American Center, said on Friday. “Absence of a supportive eco-system is a challenge for first-generation entrepreneurs.”

The first phase of the programme aims to identify 50 ambassadors from colleges in Calcutta, Patna and Ranchi. The role of the ambassadors will be to nurture the entrepreneurship development cells at their institutions.

Through workshops and online classes, the ambassadors will learn about starting a business, finances and market knowledge from experts. Their main responsibility will be to encourage students to pitch in with innovative business ideas from which 30 top ideas will be shortlisted.

“The top 30 ideas will be invited to a boot camp in Calcutta. At the grand finale at the American Center in September, a jury will select the best business ideas that will receive professional incubation support,” an American Center official said.

Those interested can send a mail to catchthemyoung2019@gmail.com by January 20.