Rural Entrepreneurship Incubation programme

NSRCEL, the innovation and entrepreneurship hub of IIM Bangalore, and Buddha Fellowship Programme (BFP) are collaborating for a joint Rural Entrepreneurship Incubation Programme.

 The pandemic has resulted in the loss of lives and livelihoods. Reverse migration has exposed the harsh realities of rural India with MSMEs and farmers being amongst the worst hit. The pandemic also saw the development sector, with NGOs and other social enterprises, rise to the occasion, with government and corporate organisations acknowledging and lauding their contribution in education, food distribution, relief work, healthcare, livelihoods and farmer and rural issues. 

The magnitude and complexity of these socio-economic challenges that India faces cannot be solved in silos. Although there are organizations working to bridge this gap, the problem lies largely unsolved and requires interventions at scale and collaboration at a multi-stakeholder level.

 The rural entrepreneurship ecosystem and home-grown entrepreneurs have been overlooked and they face a lot of scalability challenges due to lack of knowledge and awareness on marketing, branding, quality standards, value chain creation, product innovation, to name a few. Efforts need to be made to empower rural entrepreneurs to solve rural problems and scale those who can sell to urban consumers.

 NSRCEL, the start-up hub at IIM Bangalore, whose work has impacted over 115600 entrepreneurs, and the Buddha Fellowship Programme’(BFP) incubated in Self Reliant Initiatives through Joint Action (SRIJAN), have joined hands to co-create and build an incubation program to develop the rural entrepreneurship ecosystem. The BFP already has a unique programme and many of its successfully graduated Buddha fellows are working in the areas of horticulture, agriculture, dairy, nutrition, gig economy skills, supply chain management, in the under-developed districts of the country.

 The Rural Entrepreneurship Incubation Programme aims to transform the development sector in terms of scale with quality and impact by attracting and harnessing India’s best and brightest talent and create an ecosystem to nurture, support and provide opportunities for these professionals to pursue their aspiration to become development entrepreneurs, and in turn build the future of India that is modern and inclusive for its less privileged and marginalized communities.

 Applications are now open at https://bit.ly/RuralIncubation