MykiFest 2025 in Kohima: Women’s skills, creativity and enterprise take centre stage
The 8th edition of MykiFest 2025 was launched on December 2, at the Directorate of Women Resource Development premises, Kohima with the support of Nagaland Department of Women Resource Development. Mykifest is a parallel festival to the popular Hornbill Festival and aims to celebrate and promote the creative, entrepreneurial and artisanal talents of women across Nagaland.
The department’s secretary at the inaugural event emphasized that MykiFest is not only about showcasing women’s skills but also about enabling economic independence through the same. The department states its mission as breaking social and economic barriers through unceasing support, recognition, and opportunity.
Mykifets 2025 has micro-stalls various programs by local women, such as those from the fashion and Food Processing sectors. These women, who have been trained in Skill Development Centers in Kohima and Dimapur, have made the products that the stalls showcase. Apart from the crafts and goods, the festival highlights women authors, singers, musicians and businesswomen to the extent that the widest female talent pool in the state is evident.
Festival organisers say they are looking forward to having a larger event at Kisama for the next edition. Therefore, the event will have greater attendance and wider participation of women-led enterprise from all over Nagaland.
What the festival offers is far beyond just being a marketplace. The festival gives the opportunity to rural or less developed area women who may be doing any of the following: crafting, creating, starting businesses, or artistic pursuits to gain recognition and be visible. Many of them point out that it is the first time their work has come into contact with the mainstream and they have been given acknowledgement beyond their families or communities.
In a region famous for the strong tribal identities it has, MykiFest doubles up as a cultural festival. The festival aids in the preservation of local crafts, traditions, music and stories while also providing a potential avenue for their economic viability. It sees women not only as helpers, but initiators and entrepreneurs with power and the ability to earn.
For women, such a gathering might do the trick, opening new markets, fostering partnerships, and providing an understanding of one’s own strengths and abilities. The wider community is thus reminded of how imperative it is to invest in women’s creativity and business skills. MykiFest 2025 goes beyond being a mere fair and can be summarized as a statement of empowerment, identity and opportunity.
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