udyaME- empowering rural entrepreneurs

Jobless economic growth is a major challenge faced by developing and young nations like India. This further leads to systemic challenges like increasing socio-economic divide, migration etc. These existing challenges have been uncovered by the COVID19[1]  crisi[2] s. This crisis has led rural and semi-urban masses and migrants back into poverty and job uncertainties. Local enterprises are critical in creating livelihood opportunities closer to villages for tackling unemployment and migration. There is an urgent need for an acceleration engine for promotion of local micro-enterprises for speedy economic recovery.

The project aims to leverage internet-based platform ‘udyaME’ to provide support services to rural micro-entrepreneurs. It will leverage a network of IT-enabled service delivery kiosks (Information kiosks), to cater underserved communities. The modelof udyaME and information kiosks (info-kiosk) combined act as an acceleration engine for unleashing entrepreneurship at grassroots leading to wider economic resilience and job creation.

As per the Annual Report of Department of MSMEs 2018-19, out of approximately 6.33 MSMEs (employing approximately 110 million people), 99.5% fall into the micro-enterprise category in India. Most of these micro-enterprises are informal and have minimal access to support services including access to finance, latest technology and market-driven skills. The COVID-19 situation has further uncovered these deep systemic problems. These micro-enterprises are always informal and too small to grab the government's attention and make full use of the schemes and policies. Also, lack of information, dependence on cash based transactions and minimum access to markets add to their woes. In short, the backbone of the local rural economy- the micro-enterprises, face a dire situation. Inequity in terms of economic, social and human indices has been increasing in these difficult times.  A major cause of this is poverty due to unemployment, which has forced 52 million people to migrate to urban areas. The migrants are forced to live under severe working conditions to earn basic income. Many of these migrants look for opportunities in local markets, but instability of the local economy because of the crisis faced by micro-enterprises left them unemployed and struggling to meet their ends.

The proposed solution ‘udyaME’ is a digital platform for micro-entrepreneurs which will support them with necessary support services to build and grow their enterprises. The udyaME is conceived as an app as well as a website available in both English and Hindi.  The platform will have three main sections - 

• Campus – for bridging the information gap, 
• Chaupal – creating a network among entrepreneurs and service providers, enabling entrepreneurs procure technology and finance and 
• Bazaar – A platform for entrepreneurs to showcase their work and get market linkages

While ‘udyaME’ allows potential and existing entrepreneurs to access support to set up businesses, it needs a vehicle to accelerate adoption in rural and semi-urban communities. Hence, it targets to leverage the existing 250,000+ strong network of Common Service Centres (CSCs). This network will be upgraded in its retail offerings and capacities to become the ‘information kiosks’ (info-kiosk) which will be hubs for accessing udyaME and delivery of enterprise development services. The combination of udyaME and info-kiosk is a model that can become engine of acceleration for entrepreneurship in grassroots level.

The solution ('udyaME'-Info kiosk model) is primarily built to serve the needs of micro-entrepreneurs in rural and semi-urban geographies of India. However it also will directly contribute in development of a local peer-to-peer network which will help flow of information and resources within the local community. The target population is youth and women in rural areas who are literate and have aspirations to start their own business or access job near to their residence.

The platform will leverage the system innovation approach for understanding the needs and delivering suitable solutions.  To understand the needs and requirements of the customers, the solution will have continuous dialogue through various touch points including, info-kiosks, interactive voice response and local business competitions. After understanding the needs and requirements, the platform shall co-create customized solutions with them which shall solve the challenges they face. This network of 'udyaME' and information kiosks, will support in setting-up of multiple enterprises in rural and semi-urban geographies and help existing enterprises become sustainable. This will lead to an increase in employment opportunities in these areas, thus helping migrants and other unemployed groups affected by COVID-19 crisis and economic turmoil to secure a decent livelihood.

The solution and its target population has complete alignment with the challenge 1. The solution focuses on micro-enterprises (enterprises with capital investment of less than 2.5 millions) in rural and semi-urban India. These enterprises almost always are in the informal sector and have limited access to information or technology. This makes them dependent on traditional methods of doing business which inhibits their growth. The solution ('udyaME'-Info kiosk model) will introduce them to an array of technology enabled services and new economic opportunities which will help them grow, become sustainable and contribute to creating good jobs.

The proposed innovation is a digital  platform that caters to multiple needs and requirements of a micro-entrepreneur. Currently, other players in the sector focus on one or other requirements like e-commerce or training or financial linkages. No one provides all the services required by entrepreneurs at a single place. The proposed platform, 'takes a holistic perspective and provides a whole range of services to eliminate roadblocks for the entrepreneurs.

udyaME is a novel platform that encompasses the entire journey of micro-entrepreneurs. Through the platform, micro-entrepreneurs are able to build their capabilities, connect with fellow entrepreneurs and industry experts,  and browse through business models in the Campus Section, connect with suppliers of raw materials, upgrade their enterprise with latest technology, and access capital in the Chaupal Section, and market their product to potential customers through the Bazaar Section.

They key innovative elements of the platform are -

• An online virtual Peer-to-Peer Network involving local and regional stakeholders (like government agencies, local entrepreneurs etc.)  that will facilitate flow of information and opportunities of co-creation within the communities
• An online skilling training platform for individuals aspiring to secure a livelihood
• A virtual enterprise support center to provide handholding and support services to entrepreneurs
• Market development support for local entrepreneurs to ensure their sustainability

The core technology that powers the solution is an interactive digital platform that provides three types of support to semi-urban and rural micro-entrepreneurs:

• Building capabilities through training and relaying pertinent information
• Expanding capacities through upgradation of technology and accessing capital
• Connecting micro-entrepreneurs with markets

It is made available as a website and the Android application is under process. It is a novel application of existing technologies to scale IMEDF’s decades-long work in micro-entrepreneurship. It makes use of the increased connectivity of semi-urban and rural India to online and digital spaces and of our parent organisations insight in the field.

The platform however aims to enhance the technological support to the platform through introducing following features -

• Peer-to-peer segment shall be enabled with hyper - local network (wifi mesh) which eliminate the requirement of internet for communication within the community on the platform
• AI supported technology for interactive training and simulation exercises
• Cloud based low-cost shared enterprise finance management software for micro-entrepreneurs Advance video conferencing technology for seamless video conferencing for low bandwidth geographies

The channel of delivery of the services would be the Info Kiosks. The model of the information Kiosks was borne out of our W4P program with la caixa banking foundation. A close to 90% of micro-enterprises supported under the program come from marginalised groups like scheduled castes, tribes , and other backward classes. Some audio visual related to the solution can be found here and some publicly reading materials can be looked into here. There are many websites which cater to entrepreneurial services like SIDBI, eGram Kendra etc. But they often focus in limited products and services which often are not accessible by rural entrepreneurs with limited internet connectivity and technical know-how. Common Service Centers provide access to physical kiosks in rural areas, where citizens can access digital Government schemes. But these common service centers are often under utilised. udyaME+ Info Kiosk models looks to find a healthy synergy between digital and physical kiosk model where digital ensures wider accessibility and info kiosks ensure last mile delivery of enterprise support services.

Micro-enterprises are the backbone of the Indian economy. They are the largest net generators of employment and millions rely on them for their livelihoods. Despite this, they are one of the least serviced segments in India. Any impetus in this sector will have a significant multiplier effect on economic resilience and social well-being. 

The platform will provide an equitable access to enterprise development and support services to the people in rural and semi-urban areas. Create an engine for acceleration by providing a one-stop solution for micro-entrepreneurs’ unmet needs in accessing information, building capacities, procuring technology, availing credit, and connecting with customers digitally.

The three sections of Campus, Chaupal, and Bazaar cater to the different needs and requirements of the micro-entrepreneurs. Through the Campus, the entrepreneur would be able to expand their knowledge, learn new skills, get latest updates in terms of schemes and policies, and connect with other entrepreneurs and market leaders. The Chaupal creates backward and forward linkages between entrepreneurs and their suppliers and it also opens a dialogue with financial institutions. The entrepreneur would be able to assess which type of technology or which type of financial instrument would meet their demands. And Finally, though Bazaar the entrepreneur would be able to expand their reach in the market and connect with more potential customers The platform aims to mainstream a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation and move towards a more robust entrepreneurial ecosystem that nurtures micro-enterprises. In doing so, to also create more resilient micro enterprises that become net job creators and providers in semi-urban and rural India

We have registered 120 Users on the platform till 15th June. Since its launch in mid-May we have started our Social Media campaign to register users. Later in the Month, we also plan to release the mobile app of the platform.

Our target users for this year stands at 8,000 premium  users. In the next five years we wish to take this number to 200,000 users across India . 

We aspire to help 30000+ entrepreneurs directly in 5 years and in the process help in generation of 1 million livelihoods in India 

The platform hosts a variety of tools and resources that help micro-entrepreneurs in  achieving their true potential. These tools are developed and piloted based on design thinking and system innovation approach. Further, the platforms seek to collate similar tools available in the open source as well as through partnerships. This ensures constant innovation and catering to the need of the end user through an systemic and human-centric approach. The platform also allows its user an interactive interface which acts as a virtual co-creation and dialogue space with peers and experts. India is a country where the rural population still doesn’t have a smartphone or reliable access to the internet. So in order to ensure last mile delivery of the services provided in this platform, a brick and mortar based franchisee model is also designed in the form of information kiosks. These information kiosks can be leveraged on existing common services centers which are numbered in 250,000+ catering to a population of 20 million approximately. Using this scale up strategy, 'udyaME' plans aspired to get 50,000 micro entrepreneurs registered within 2022 as paying subscribers to generate revenue and make the platform sustainable in itself.

The main barriers and challenges are:

• Low technical capacity of target audience.
• Poor connectivity in target geographies.
• Gender disparity in the number of entrepreneurs
• Myriad and complex entrepreneurial ecosystem at present where there are many interlopers and middlemen. This drives up the operational and transaction costs of potential entrepreneurs and keeps existing entrepreneurs from growing.
• Disconnect between financial institutions and procurement agencies  and micro enterprises.
• Micro entrepreneurs are limited to their immediate market.

Internal:

Lack of expertise in technological innovation - though 'udyaME' champions in delivering required solutions to the entrepreneurs, it lags in technological expertise. For larger impact, we will require assistance in equipping 'udyaME' with the necessary technological support to make it more interactive and user friendly to allow content co-creation with the users. Support is also required in terms of search optimisation and virtual training technologies so as to make the user experience smooth and fast.

  Lack of funds - To materialize the vision, we require funding support. These funds will be employed for bringing in technological expertise and development of platform along with supporting the operations till the model becomes sustainable 

External  - The overarching barriers of connectivity issues and poor networks in the target geographies will be filled in by our delivery channel. We have also created a model Information Kiosk enterprise prototype that functions on the same lines as a Common Service Centre. They would act as the focal point in the target geographic areas by guiding entrepreneurs and providing support wherever needed. They would also be able to disseminate critical information and build capacities on how to use digital tools and resources.

Wide scale adoption of the Information Kiosk prototype especially by women entrepreneurs would boost inclusivity and promote entrepreneurship as an economic opportunity for women.

Internal - We are planning to partner with technology institutions and technology based corporates to support the program by lending their expertise in developing the platform. We are also approaching various funders to secure a grant for the development and operations of the platform

 Indian Micro Enterprise Development Foundation (IMEDF) is a special purpose vehicle, registered in India as a Section 8 Company.  It is part of the  Development Alternatives Group, a 35 year old not-for-profit collective of charitable organizations and social enterprises.  The udyaMe team is incubating this digital platform as an independent line of business within IMEDF.

2 full-time staff, 7 part-time staffs and 1 technology contractor are working on the solution team  

 IMEDF has experience of 12+ years in supporting micro-enterprises in rural India. IMEDF along with it’s sister organisation Development Alternatives has developed initiatives focused at continuous innovation, action and learning to promote entrepreneurship at scale. These initiatives unleash latent energies among communities and build positive ecosystems so that micro-entrepreneurs continue to thrive on a sustained basis. IMEDF interventions are focused on value chain development or build local ecosystems so that capacity building, technology, and marketing support services are made available to entrepreneurs continuously.    The team consists of system innovators, social development experts, economists, management experts, capacity building experts, engineers and field implementer who work in tandem to develop innovative solutions like financial planning tools, business models, business projections and simulations, interactive games on entrepreneurship etc. All these tools were developed by using a human-centric design thinking approach, piloted on the ground and then included in the udyaME platform. In the last 2 years, the team has directly set up 600+ enterprises and developed clusters generating livelihoods for 5600+ farmers, artisans and micro-entrepreneurs in 11 states of India. This positions IMEDF as an enterprise development expert in India.

IMEDF is currently working with various stakeholders ranging from Government of India to grassroots NGOs. IMEDF is the nodal agency for a flagship program namely SFURTI of Ministry of MSME, Government of India. Through this project, IMEDF is working with a network of 13+ NGOs across India, to set up clusters of traditional enterprises.

For developing the udyaME platform, IMEDF worked closely with the Work 4 Progress program and Entrepreneurship for Empowerment project funded by la Caixa Foundation and HSBC Foundation respectively. The udyaME team co-created the tools and tested them in the intervention areas of the above-mentioned programs. These two programs also co-funded the development of the platform.

In the process of development of the platform, udyaME worked closely with Acodez, who was responsible for providing the technical expertise of developing the webpages and digitization of the tools. udyaME also partnered with Quest Alliance for the development of audio-video resources for bringing awareness on the basics of entrepreneurship.

In order to roll out the udyaME platform, strategic partnership is also being leveraged with organisations having specific capacity. In order to do so, IMEDF is partnering with Government agencies, civil society organisations, technology developers, microfinancing institutes and banks.

The important value proposition of the model is doorstep delivery of services. Availing support services is a cumbersome process for entrepreneurs especially in rural geography. This innovation will help them to access all the services required for their enterprise to sustain and grow in their neighbourhood, saving their resources.

The business model adopted, involves a strategy of freemium model, wherein the user can use certain basic services for free and shall pay for other services. The 3 major pricing segments are -

• The basic resource - this will be a free set of services like information on entrepreneurship, government schemes and key resource centers.
• The standardardized resource - these will be standardized paid services which will resolve key challenges of an entrepreneur. This includes filling up documents for schemes and other financial transactions, accessing local and regional markets on udyaME and other digital platforms, procurement of technology and raw materials, business management courses, skill upgradation training etc.
• The customized resource - these will be customized solutions like business mentoring, business plan development, branding and marketing support etc. These services will be premium services and will be charged as per the hours required to complete the tasks. All these services will be available on udyaME platform. However, in a rural setting where there is minimum access to information and a significant information gap, there is a requirement of a guide to access these services, Hence the info-kiosk comes into the picture as the guide and local point of contact.

udyaME aims to provide the services to the customer directly. However being an internet enabled platform it has certain restrictions especially when it comes to servicing rural micro-entrepreneurs with limited access to the internet. Hence, we deliver the services simultaneously through the alternative channel, the info-kiosks.

Since the udyaME-info kiosk  model is a revenue generating model, its sustainability is not dependent on the grants. However in the first 3 years it would require grant support to set-up the network of info-kiosk, penetrate into the market and set-up infrastructure and technology to support the operations and delivery of the solution. 

The model will adopt a mixed model comprising Entrepreneur support and market intermediary. The model will secure its revenues from following sources -

• subscription fees from customers who will use the standardized and customized solutions
• Fees generated from service providers for accessing focused customers, pay per click and hot leads 
• Revenue from advertising and marketing on the platform Partnership premium charged from the info-kiosk user from the revenue generated by it

The udyaME-Info Kiosk model aims to bridge the gap of accessing enterprise support services for the most backward communities in rural India. Starting such a nation-wide movement to boost rural entrepreneurship would require revamping the existing CSC network in India with state of the art digital infrastructure to provide seamless internet connectivity, and access to support services around computer hardware systems. Our vision not only aligns with the objective of Solve to understand ‘how people and computers can be connected so that collectively they act more intelligently’ but also addresses issues around inequity of internet access. Becoming a member of the SOLVE community will enable us to learn from organisations in other countries in Global South who have solved similar development challenges, partner with technology companies to build the required infrastructure and work with governments across levels to accelerate the process, in order to respond to the livelihood crisis that has engulfed India. The $10,000 grant money will help us demonstrate a pilot and leverage funding from large technology to scale the learnings and tools from our pilot. However, SOLVE is beyond the grant - it provides us with a nurturing ecosystem to imbibe global best practices, work with the sharpest innovators and deliver our solution at scale with limited barriers. 

The udyaME-Info Kiosk model will collaborate with key local and regional stakeholders such as government agencies, financial institutions, market aggregators, raw material suppliers etc. to create the aforementioned network. This will enable flow of information and opportunities for local entrepreneurs to thrive. Partnership with educational institutions and training organisations will enable transfer of innovative knowledge products and solutions for dissemination through udyaME, to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.

With help of the Solve community, our team wishes to build a more comprehensive model, which explores higher revenue streams from enterprise support services for our information kiosk, and embeds long term financial sustainability in udyaME. udyaME could benefit from improved data science, and AI capabilities with machine learning based chat-bots in regional languages to assist budding entrepreneurs and analytics of queries by region to develop customised offerings in real-time.

IMEDF along with it's sister organisation DA, has more than 25 years of experience in micro enterprise development and waste-to-wealth focused green entrepreneurship. It has developed nearly 50 enterprise packages which help youth and women start enterprises or co-create new innovative one. Such enterprise packages spark innovation in rural India and working with past Solvers such as Algramo, Mycotech, and Xilinant could help in transference of global, innovative enterprise models to India’s grassroots.

Scaling a platform like udyaME to a 1.3 billion people requires mentorship and agility to respond to dynamic challenges. Working with Solvers such as Stephanie Benedatto and Garry Cooper who have developed similar web-based platforms would help equip the team and up-skill themselves in team and stakeholder management. Our team envisions that demonstrating these model kiosks at scale and transferring the associated social innovation tools to the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and several State Governments will ensure upgradation of all of India’s CSCs into hubs for cultivating entrepreneurship by enabling information flows and fostering inclusivity through technology. Becoming part of the SOLVE community can help realise this vision in a smooth manner

The target population of the udyaME-info kiosk model are youth and women. In India, women in rural areas are devoid of oppurtunities due to soical barriers. This challenge has become systemic and requires innovative models. The info kiosk model in the udyaME+Info Kiosk model aspires to provide hand holding support to the women in rural areas to access information, achieve their aspirations thus empowering them. We also look forward to hire women as information kiosk agents so that these women can drive change in their community.

Jobless economic growth is a major challenge faced by developing and young nations such as India. This has led to systemic challenges like increasing socio-economic divide, urban migration, environmental stress etc. These existing challenges have been uncovered by the COVID19[1]  crisi[2] s, which has pushed the already dwindling economy of India into a deep dive. This crisis has led rural and semi-urban masses and migrants back into poverty and job uncertainties. Local enterprises are critical in creating livelihood opportunities closer to villages and small towns and thus tackling the threat of unemployment and migration. Introducing new age technology based enterprises in rural areas will create decent jobs accessible to rural youth. India being an agrarian country our focus delves into agro based enterprises which can also lead to generation of green jobs. 

The udyaME-Info Kiosk model aims to bridge the gap of accessing enterprise support services for the most backward communities in rural India. Starting such a nation-wide movement to boost rural entrepreneurship would require revamping the existing CSC network in India with state of the art digital infrastructure to provide seamless internet connectivity, and access to support services around computer hardware systems. 

udyaME aims to provide the services to the customer directly. However being an internet enabled platform it has certain restrictions especially when it comes to servicing rural micro-entrepreneurs with limited access to the internet. Hence, we deliver the services simultaneously through the alternative channel, the info-kiosks. Since the udyaME-info kiosk  model is a revenue generating model, its sustainability is not dependent on the grants. However in the first 3 years it would require grant support to set-up the network of info-kiosk, penetrate into the market and set-up infrastructure and technology to support the operations and delivery of the solution. 

The important value proposition of the model is doorstep delivery of services. Availing support services is a cumbersome process for entrepreneurs especially in rural geography. This innovation will help them to access all the services required for their enterprise to sustain and grow in their neighbourhood, saving their resources.

The business model adopted by the solution involves a strategy of freemium model, wherein the user can use certain basic services for free and shall pay for other services. The 3 major pricing segments are -

• The basic resource - this will be a free set of services like information on entrepreneurship, government schemes and key resource centers.
• The standardardized resource - these will be standardized paid services which will resolve key challenges of an entrepreneur. This includes filling up documents for schemes and other financial transactions, accessing local and regional markets on udyaME and other digital platforms, procurement of technology and raw materials, business management courses, skill upgradation training etc.
• The customized resource - these will be customized solutions like business mentoring, business plan development, branding and marketing support etc. These services will be premium services and will be charged as per the hours required to complete the tasks. All these services will be available on udyaME platform. However, in a rural setting where there is minimum access to information and a significant information gap, there is a requirement of a guide to access these services, Hence the info-kiosk comes into the picture as the guide and local point of contact.