The Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) was set up by the J&K government in 1997 with the explicit aim of handholding young entrepreneurs of Jammu and Kashmir. With a vicious cycle of violence keeping private businesses of the country and abroad away from making any kind of investment in Jammu and Kashmir, the JKEDI was expected to fill in the gap by enabling and encouraging a thriving culture of private business where young minds could come together and come up with solutions for plugging the loopholes in J&K’s economy. Dozens of schemes were formulated after consultations with subject experts and taking into consideration the nature of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy which has been service-oriented over the years with no major industrial output. One such scheme was helping prospective entrepreneurs in setting up sheep farming units in order to cut the import of mutton. According to official data, Jammu and Kashmir consumes more than 600 lakh kilograms of mutton every year with more than half of it brought from outside states such as Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and others. To prevent the mutton money from flowing out of Jammu and Kashmir, a number of schemes have been devised by other departments such as sheep husbandry. The centre also offers several schemes for prospective sheep farmers to join hands with the union government. But over the years, the JKEDI, which was expected to play the lead role in the development of the mutton industry in Kashmir, has failed to deliver on the expectations. The institute was marred by politics which allowed only a selected group of people to avail the benefits of various schemes offered by the government to make Jammu and Kashmir self-sufficient. This culture of nepotism at the institute became the biggest hurdle in promoting entrepreneurship in the union territory, as a result of which the institute gradually lost its sheen as well as its relevance. The institute was lying nearly defunct for several months with even its employees not being paid. Now, with the change in guard and a new director at the helm of affairs, the institute must come out of the shadows and enable as well as promote a culture of entrepreneurship. With the full support of J&K administration led by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, the institute should be able to set new benchmarks in industrial development. At a time when the job markets are shrinking globally, the JKEDI surely has the potential to become the game-changer.