On the occasion of Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi yesterday i.e. October 02, 2018, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), had launched a National Level Entrepreneurship Awareness Campaign, Udyam Abhilasha (उद्यम अभिलाषा) in 115 Aspirational Districts identified by NITI Aayog in 28 States and reaching to around 15,000 youth. SIDBI will join to contribute to “the transformation mission” unleashed for these districts.  The campaign would be running parallelly from 3^rd October to 8^thOctober, 2018 across India. The campaign would create and strengthen cadre of more than 800 trainers to provide entrepreneurship training to the aspiring youths across these districts thus encouraging them to enter the admired segment of entrepreneurs.

SIDBI has partnered with CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle, (CSC SPV) set up by the Ministry of Electronics & IT, Govt. of India for implementing the campaign through their CSCs. The  objectives of the missionary campaign includes :- (i) to inspire rural youth in as pirational districts to be entrepreneurs by assisting them to set up their own enterprise, (ii) to impart trainings through digital medium across the country, (iii) to create business opportunities for CSC VLEs,(iv)to focus on women aspirants in these as pirational districts to encourage women entrepreneurship and (v)to assist participants to become bankable and avail credit facility from banks to set up their own enterprise.

SIDBI is also taking-up with stakeholders including Banks, NABARD, NBFCs, SFBs, District Industries Centres, State Govt. etc. to be a part of this campaign and ensure mutlifold impact. Further, CSC Village Level entrepreneurs (VLEs) would play role of catalyst for these aspiring entrepreneurs. Apart from training, VLEs would also provide handholding support to the aspirants to establish new units by assisting them in availing loans for their enterprise and making them aware about various initiatives of Government of India like Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, SUI etc. and educate the youths in these districts on business literacy. 

Speaking about the campaign, Shri Mohammad Mustafa, IAS, CMD, SIDBI said “As the task of transforming ‘As pirational Districts’ is challenging, SIDBI has taken a bold step by entering into these as pirational districts and working on ground level activities in these areas, to create livelihood and promote sustainable development. This is part of our programmatic approach to induce entrepreneurship as dream choice by turning job seekers as job creators. We are connecting different dots through policy advocacy initiatives of MSE Pulse & Crisidex, entrepreneurship series & campaigns, revamping digital aggregator portal, free access to project profiles and so on. Idea is to remove information asymmetry and make the youths in these ‘resource challenged’ districts to be ‘access rich’.”

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), is the Principal Financial Institution for the Promotion, Financing, Development and Coordination of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector. SIDBI meets the financial and developmental needs of the MSME sector with a Credit+ approach to make it strong, vibrant and globally competitive. SIDBI, under its revamped strategy SIDBI 2.0, has adopted the theme of ease of access to MSEs and being Impact Multiplier & Digital Aggregator. Efforts have been initiated to strengthen the eco system both in setting up and stepping up stages of business cycle. To take the agenda forward, SIDBI has had series of initiatives.

Entrepreneurship awareness campaign promotes rural youth entrepreneurship via trainer networks, CSC handholding and strengthened credit access. SIDBI launched Udyam Abhilasha in 115 aspirational districts to promote rural youth entrepreneurship by training a cadre of over 800 trainers, delivering digital entrepreneurship training, and using CSC VLEs for handholding and loan facilitation. The campaign focuses on creating bankable entrepreneurs, assisting access to credit and government schemes, emphasising women aspirants, and coordinating with banks, NABARD, NBFCs, SFBs and district/state institutions, aligned with SIDBI's SIDBI 2.0 strategy of ease of access and digital aggregation for MSME development.