JKEDI has been established by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir in March 1997 to effectively enable entrepreneurship development in the state. The institute started its regular activities from February 2004 and has positioned itself as a learning centre par excellence with state of the art regional centers across Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Besides, JKEDI Community Organisers are in all of the 22 districts enabling entrepreneurship and promoting development at the grassroots .

For holistic and sustainable entrepreneurship development, there is always a need for JKEDI to step out of its main campuses into the districts, and even deeper into the community. By combining community organizing skills and participatory training practices, JKEDI professionals work at the grassroots to create enterprise awareness and readiness among the youth of Jammu and Kashmir.