Aspiring entrepreneurs to receive incubation and digitisation support in Karnataka

MYSURU: A first of its kind incubation centre has been launched in Mariayala, Chamarajanagar district recently. This producer network will create more employment opportunities and help in building self-reliant communities, empowering youth and women in the district.  

Already several small merchants and women and youth entrepreneurs in Chamarajanagara are joining the network. The effort is to create a production hub for Food, Health and Wellness, Clothing, Home Décor and Arts and Crafts. This unique producer network will be expanded across the agriculture corridor all the way up to Kolhapur in the coming months. The vision is to build a self-sustaining digitised economy in small towns across India.

This initiative is spearheaded by Bangalore-based eSamudaay, world’s first local commerce (LCommerce) platform in partnership with JSS RISDC (Rural Incubation and Skill Development Centre), Vision Karnataka Foundation,1by0grit, Tech of Mysore and Kannada.com.  

The incubation of the emerging businesses in Chamrajnagara will be anchored by JSS RISDC, while eSamudaay will be the digital platform enabling local commerce and connecting the local producers to the market outside of Chamarajanagara.

The technology infrastructure, digital skill development and access to vernacular enabled user interface for these rural businesses will be offered by  1by0grit, Tech of Mysore and Kannada.com.Vision Karnataka Foundation, a Think Tank Community for creation of Social Impact Sustainable Development in Karnataka will be the knowledge partner for this producer network.

Vision Karnataka will create an agricultural corridor starting from Chamarajanagara up till Kolhapur with local value addition, processing and GI tagging at each node that is aligned with UNDP’s sustainable development goals. This network is expected to boost several local economies in Karnataka and eventually rest of India.

"Towns like Chamarajanagara that are rich in biodiversity are unnoticed, lack sustainable agricultural practices, has poor infrastructure and basic amenities posing a challenge for the local sustenance. They also lack technology support and urgently need to be enabled digitally. This created a need for tech platforms like eSamudaay to develop a network of ecosystem players which can provide end to end assistance for local entrepreneurs right from incubation to skill development to digitising their businesses and scaling them," said the team.
 
Speaking of the initiative, Anup Pai, Founder and CEO, eSamudaay said “Atmarnibhar Bharat and making India a trillion-dollar digital economy by 2024 can be attained only when our collective focus includes strengthening the rural economies along with overall growth. If rural entrepreneurs are offered the right platform to innovate and scale, rural India can become a sought after investment destination for potential investors.”

“eSamudaay’s LCommerce network is expected to be operational in all District Headquarters with a population greater than 5 Lakh within the next 18 months. These will be consumption hubs. The effort in Chamarajanagara is to create a production hub for Food, Health & Wellness, Clothing, Home Décor, Arts and Crafts etc. while protecting the biodiversity and providing 21st-century life skills to the local population. Production hubs made up of micro-businesses and solopreneurs take time and community participation to become sustainable and eSamudaay is committed to ensuring that digital tools are leveraged to make the process efficient and measurable,” added Anup
 
Shivashankar B, Chief Executive of JSS RISDC said “Empowering Rural Community” is the theme under which RISDC is envisioned to create local business/entrepreneurs and employment for sustainable growth of the region by facilitating and connecting with ecosystem partner across the region to make it Self reliant rural India. The facilities and support at JSS RISDC will be a ground-up initiative to engage the solopreneur, self-employed and aspiring individuals or group to start their activities to move up the value chain in the ecosystem for betterment of local economical activities.
 
Kishor Jagirdar, President & Founder, Vision Karnataka Foundation said “We are building an Agri-Business Corridor from Chamrajnagara to Kholapur to democratise the opportunities across this belt for grassroots level community-based entrepreneurship on nano innovations which will double the income for farmers and also create a sustainable model of livelihood for marginalised communities, integrating with MSME development. The unique part of this initiative is the communities own the CHANGE and evolve with minimum government intervention in this space of ecosystem, building in the collective spirit, sharing the risk and handholding.”