Co-Creating Solutions
with Entrepreneurs
Work
4 Progress, an initiative of Development Alternatives and the la Caixa
Banking Foundation, is a project that aims to use entrepreneurship as a
powerful tool to empower individuals and communities in India. In rural
areas, the emphasis is on creating an environment of entrepreneurship
where there was none - an enabling ecosystem that will provide
entrepreneurs with the information and resources they need to make the
process of starting a business easier. There is increasing evidence from
our dialogue with communities that they are limited in accessing
information and are under confident with respect to financial and
technical aspects of setting up businesses. Co-Creation in Work 4
Progress involves creating solutions hand in hand with entrepreneurs
based on their specific needs to empower them to take well informed
decisions with respect to their livelihood development.
In addition to using training tools, reality
competitions and working sessions; another method that has aided Work 4
Progress in working towards this is ‘Enterprise Fairs’. These tools are
aimed at giving entrepreneurs a platform and resources to connect with
other stakeholders and express their needs, while providing them with
the linkages they require.![](images/Pg4b.jpg)
An Enterprise Fair was held in Mirzapur,
East Uttar Pradesh on 19th June, 2018. Among the organisations present
were financial institutions, technology vendors and experts from the
Work 4 Progress team. The District Cooperative Bank, Mirzapur, Unibase
Microfinance Foundation and Om APN Microfinance Institute were the
financial institutions in attendance. Providing technological support
and solutions were Indiamart, an online machinery sales website, as well
as Aqua Vio, a water filtration and purification technology vendor. The
Work 4 Progress team set up Business Plan and Financial Package stalls.
At these stalls, team members sat one-on-one with entrepreneurs to
create business plans for them and provide short explanations about
various types of enterprises such as spice grinding or milk chilling
enterprises. As peer-to-peer learning is also an important part of
Co-Creation, a successful entrepreneur, Mr. Manish Singh was also
invited to discuss his lucrative sawdust pellet-making business and
advise interested participants. Video demonstrations and presentations
helped potential entrepreneurs get a good glimpse into the workings of
different technologies and enterprises.
![](images/Pg4a.jpg)
The event saw a footfall of more than 95
entrepreneurs, some with existing businesses who sought solutions for
certain aspects of their business and some with the will to start a
business but no direction. Business plans were made on the spot for 5
entrepreneurs, some of whom were advised on cost-cutting and
profit-increasing techniques. This exercise had a significant impact, as
it helped them understand their own business operations in a more
detailed way and introduced them to the usefulness of book-keeping. Two
entrepreneurs were signed up for the Start Your Business training that
has already helped improve the skills of more than 40 entrepreneurs in
the Mirzapur and Bhadohi area.
All in all, the event was extremely
successful as it reached out to a large number of entrepreneurs and they
were able to obtain linkages to the kind of support services they
required, all under one roof. The Enterprise Fair was held in another
geography of the project i.e. Bundelkhand on 25 July 2018. The learnings
and feedback received from the first enterprise fair were incorporated
in this second fair in which the reach and impact of the event was even
greater.■
Jayesha M. Koushik
jmkoushik@devalt.org
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