Building an Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship in Rural India | Milaap

Building an Ecosystem for Entrepreneurship in Rural India

One of the best things about my work as a Milaap fellow is that I get to meet different people and different stories which I would not have otherwise been able to do. The whole country is buzzing about Entrepreneurship, Start-ups and entrepreneurs. A wave of entrepreneurship taking India by storm. People are talking about start-ups & funding everywhere. We have start up hubs like Bangalore, Powai (Mumbai), Delhi NCR & Pune. All these places are buzzing with words like seed funding, capital funding, angel investors, VC funding, expansion, acquisition and what not. Some of the sources also claim that India is the 3rd largest base for start-ups in the world at the end of 2014 after US and UK. Does this new storm really go to change the face of Indian economy? Will it be enough? And we all know the answers to such questions.More than 65% of the whole population still lives in rural areas. And yet, resources and policies continue to be biased in favor of urban development. These start-up hubs are far from affecting those 65% of lives and generating employment for them. We have some programs running by the government of India to provide training and nurture the skills of youth in rural India. So the need of the hour is to make it widespread phenomena especially in the rural India where the unemployment rate is very high.
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I came to know about one such program by government of India in which they provide the budding entrepreneurs or students who want to start something of their own with training in their respective professional field and then help them to get the funds from different nationalised banks either to expand or to start a new venture in rural India. MANAGE (Hyderabad) is one such organisation, managed by central government which provides all the above mentioned benefits to the students and entrepreneurs.Ranjeet kumar is one of the beneficiaries of this program by MANAGE Hyderabad from the 2014 batch. He along with his two brothers has expanded his ancestral business to new heights and planning to be the major player in his district and then Bihar. After the completion of the program a nationalised bank sanctioned Rs.25 lakhs loan to Ranjeet kumar at a subsidised rate.[caption id="attachment_7138" align="alignnone" width="2592"]Ranjeet in his workshop Ranjeet in his workshop[/caption]Maa Vaishno Engineering Workshop is the venture of Ranjeet along with his two brothers. Earlier his father used to do welding works in the workshop and Ranjeet and his brothers joined their father at a very early age. The workshop is based out in Bargaon, a village nearby the Nalanda University ruins. When I asked Ranjeet why did he choose a village for his workshop he explained to me that this is the place where my father and grandfather used to work and since it is far from the town so I have no competitor here plus people know me here which provides me more scope and makes it easier for me to sell my products.WP_20150512_001The venture is registered under Agri - Clinics & Agri - Business (ACABC) Scheme, Department of Agriculture (Government of India).[caption id="attachment_7141" align="alignnone" width="2592"]Chairs in Maa Vaishno Engineering Workshop built by Ranjeet Chairs in Maa Vaishno Engineering Workshop built by Ranjeet[/caption]Maa Vaishno Engineering Workshop makes agricultural euipments like Rotavator, Roller, Tractor trolleys, Thrasher and Cultivator etc.[caption id="attachment_7140" align="alignnone" width="2592"]A Rotavator manufactured by Maa Vaishno Engineering Workshop A Rotavator manufactured by Maa Vaishno Engineering Workshop[/caption]According to Ranjeet the venture is doing well. The brothers have expanded the operations after they got the loan from the government and the enterprise is clocking a turnover of almost Rs.4 – 5 lakhs per month though it is seasonal explained Ranjeet. And the profit margin is also good told Ranjeet. For example it takes 3 - 4 days to make a tractor trolley with a cost of around Rs.50, 000 and then they sell it somewhere between Rs.85, 000 – 90, 000. Ranjeet and his brothers are planning to apply for one more loan after repaying the first loan. And they are eyeing to cross a monthly turnover of Rs. 10 lakhs by the end of year 2016. This is just one of the many stories happening in rural India. We need more entrepreneurs like Ranjeet and programs like MANAGE which can nourish and make entrepreneurs like Ranjeet in every parts of India.