The five-day orientation (from 5th-9th December 2017) aims to help young aspiring rural entrepreneurs from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra and Karnataka understand the nuances of business. The workshop offers a highly interactive learning environment for the participants to learn the concepts of rural businesses, including cost and revenue structure, marketing and customer relations. During the course of the training, the participants will be able to assess their needs and identify the areas, where they require further support. The facilitators will also help participants polish their business plans and develop skills to pitch their concrete ideas to financial institutions and investors.
For over seven years, Welthungerhilfe has trained around 15000 rural youth in India under its Skill Development Initiative on areas such as sustainable agriculture, animal husbandry, fishery, agro-food processing and renewable energy at facilities called Green Colleges (earlier called Community Colleges). These facilities, located in remote areas and hosted by NGOs or CSR partners, empower the young people to have better access to technology, finances and market to enhance their income.
Today, many of the Green College trainees would like to start up their own businesses. However, it’s not so easy for them because of a lack of a proper support system.
A young entrepreneur presents his ideas at the workshop
In order to prosper and fulfil their dreams, these young minds need mentoring and handholding. This is why Welthungerhilfe has come up with a tailor-made support system called the Fast Track Business Accelerator. It’s a rural business accelerator programme that supports high potential rural entrepreneurs to set up their business, create employment opportunities and realize the economic potential of their area.
The programme identifies young rural entrepreneurs with potential business ideas that can provide an economic solution to the existing poverty and hunger, supports them design and articulate the ideas, coaches them to develop new or missing skills, supports them develop business plans and their professional profile as well as helps them connect with potential investors. It also helps them with product designing, branding, marketing and raising investment funds.
