Rural development ministry, IIE partner for village entrepreneurship program

The Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has signed a MoU with the Rural Development ministry (MoRD), to promote entrepreneurship amongst the rural youth by initiating the 'start-up village entrepreneurship programme' (SVEP).

SVEP is a sub-component of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) -- which aims to support entrepreneurs in rural areas to set-up enterprises at the village-level in non-agricultural sectors.

“By developing a sustainable model for Village Entrepreneurship Promotion, the programme aims to enable the rural poor from the self-help group (SHG) ecosystem to start their own businesses developing self-employment avenues for unemployed rural people,” read the MSDE statement.

The Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) in Guwahati will act as a National Resource Organisation (NRO) for the SVEP to provide support to the State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLM) for the scheme's successful implementation. IIE established in 1993, is an autonomous organisation under the MSDE. The institute's main goal is to provide training, research, and consulting services in small and micro enterprises, with a special emphasis on entrepreneurship development.

The government says that the NRO is expected to play a two-fold role in the SVEP's implementation which will include working as implementing partners in the block and scaling up the scheme based on the blocks' experience with the SVEP. SVEP will develop local resources by training a pool of village level community called the Cadre of Community Resource Persons-Enterprise Promotion (CRP-EP) and build the capacity of the NRLM and SHG federations to monitor, direct the work of the CRPEPs, said the ministry.

It will further aid rural entrepreneurs to access finance for starting their enterprises from the national rural livelihood mission, SHGs and federations, the banking systems including the MUDRA.

"We are certain that this will further boost the employment opportunities in rural India with a step in the direction of Atmanirbhar Bharat and as our Hon’ble Prime Minister states, Start-ups will be the backbone of the New India of our dreams,” said Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

In addition, MSDE said that the MoRD will inform all states/UTs about IIE's empanelment as an NRO under the SVEP to help accelerate growth. In addition, IIE will work closely with SRLMs to serve as the SVEP's National Resource Organisation.