Parul
Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) has launched its programme to build the capacity of women entrepreneurs (WEs) to access finance and strengthen their enterprises. In October 2022, GAME formally signed an MOU with NRLM to launch a Women Entrepreneur Empowerment Program in 3 States of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan to support over 10,000 women entrepreneurs with access to credit across 15 districts in the 3 states.
The programme will be initially supported by strengthening National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and State Rural Livelihood Mission (SRLM) architecture through capacity building and augmentation, training existing field cadres called Vitta Sakhis. The program also entails supplementing the existing NRLM (National Rural Livelihood Mission) training protocol and using it to train 3000 Vitta Sakhis, who will in turn support potential entrepreneurs from among women SHG members to take up viable business enterprises.
The trained Vittal Sakhis will review compliance and eligibility of NRLM and SRLM (State Rural Livelihood Mission) identified women entrepreneurs. They will also mentor and help develop business plans to formalize their enterprise, as well as secure financial linkages. This program will also enlarge the narrative to establish a comprehensive onboarding process for financial institutions such as Public Sector Banks and Regional Rural Banks to unlock formal credit for the identified women entrepreneurs in rural areas.
GAME has collaborated with Haqdarshak to roll out this programme in the 3 States. The collaboration is for a year and aims to link 10,000 women entrepreneurs with format credit.
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Madan Padaki, Co-founder, GAME said, “Our mission is to build a mass entrepreneurship movement that focuses on women specifically through a series of focused interventions and ecosystem support. Our MoU with NRLM in three states seeks to create a local ecosystem that supports women, by addressing issues with access to financing and assisting in realizing maximum growth potential. With this initiative, we intend to co-create a model that can be used across the country, while also learning quickly with all of our partners”.
Nita Kejrewal, Joint Secretary (RL), DAY-NRLM said, “The ability of women entrepreneurs (WEs) to obtain formal credit and strengthen their businesses must be improved in order to inspire and drive more women on the path of entrepreneurship. Through our enterprise finance initiative in partnership with GAME, we will assist 10,000 women entrepreneurs with formal financing, show them how to apply for formal credit, avail of benefits of various government programmes, and persuade them to adopt digital tools for expanding their businesses. We hope to encourage more women to start their own businesses, support those who are already doing so, and foster a larger ecosystem for women entrepreneurship to thrive.
