SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL -A STUDY OF VILLAGE-LEVEL ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Rationale of choosing one village

This type of micro study of rural community clearly identifies the physical and social boundaries within a client system. It provides an intimate understanding of resources and their uses, the dynamics of development and growth, the client system attitudes and the understanding of the climate for entrepreneurship development hectares provided us some insight into this rural community in terms of the bottlenecks and the problem of entrepreneurship development programme at grass root level.

Main objectives of the study

1. Identifying the natural resources available such as primary resources of land, water, forest, marine, minerals etc., and secondary resources of agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture etc.
2. Examining prospects of EDP in the community.
3. Identifying constraints within the community and in the promotional agencies in developing self-enterprise and
4 Strategy for EDP in the community.

Conclusion

For micro industrial planning an intensive, in-depth study of the community and the Panchayat should be conducted by the promotion agency to analyze the local resources with regard to the quality and the quantity available in the area.

An industrial potential survey of the area needs to be done to promote entrepreneurship development programmes.

Motivation, an integral part in creating awareness among the villagers, is very much lacking in the community. The local level organization i.e., the Yuvak Sangh and the Mahila Samiti should be made more energetic with the help of the block agency. The block agency should take some initiative to provide the necessary infrastructure to start small scale industrial units with a proper follow up to generate an industrial climate in the panchayat.

The block agency should take some initiative to provide the necessary infrastructure to start small scale industrial units with a proper follow up to generate an industrial climate in the panchayat.

Finally the block agency with the help of the EDC in the state should start a systematic training programme for the potential youths in the community.

COMMON PROPERTY RESOURCES (CPRS) & ITS MANAGEMENT FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL GROWTH: A STUDY OF KEONJHAR DISTRICT OF THE INDIAN STATE OF ORISSA

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study are as follows:

1. Review of the literature to assess the earlier contribution made to the study. To study the CPRS in the district of Keonjhar in the state of Orissa including community forests, pastures and waste lands, ponds and tanks, rivers and rivulets, watershed etc.
2. To identify the role and function of Governments (State/Central) in utilizing the CPRS in the state of Orissa.

3. To suggest a few suitable projects for the study area and to evolve a methodology to co-ordinates and implement CPRS into gainful employment generation.

SUGGESTIONS:

Village committees should be legally registered and be given legal status. Giving them statutory powers and rights should legally strengthen these committees. This is especially necessary for control/jurisdiction over common property resources as well as joint management of non-arable lands.
Institutional mechanism should be created for equitable distribution of the benefits. At the moment there is not institutional structures to reallocate equitable distribution of CPR benefits among all the villagers. This is highly important to ensure co-operation from all the villagers.

Social Forestry: Another option could be through promoting social forestry. But a critical obstacle to India’s social forestry programme is the lack of people’s participation. Despite severe pressure on public plantations and forests, people in rural areas remain reluctant to plant trees on there own land. Fodder and fire wood is the basic need of these house holds but most people are not interested in producing them since they collect there free of charges from common lands and forests. Since the farmers priority is to generate income, afforest ration is attractive to them only when it involves trees that can fetch cash income.

Tree Growers Societies: The ultimate objective of the tree growers societies is to educate, develop and empower the local people to manage common as well as private property resources in an ecologically sound and economically liberal manner. In the end members of the tree growers’ cooperatives undertake economical restoration mainly through soil and water conservation, planting and protecting trees and ensuring restoration of the proceeds of natural biomass regeneration and degraded village common lands as well as on the private lands.

Income Generation: To increase the income generation in the study area, small business related to Forestry, Agro based, Pisi culture, Medicinal plantation should be given top priority. Moreover small co-operatives should be set up in the field of small-scale wood processing units, bamboo crafts and wood carving units.

As we know panchayats is a cluster of homogeneous villages where the CPRs are abundant but due to the negligence and ignorance of the authorities they are unutilized or underutilized. In order to optimize the utilization of local resources, systematic entrepreneurship development training programmes can be thought of for the potential village entrepreneurs: where the following inputs should be taken care of with the help of the Panchayat institutions, the governmental agencies, and the NGOs. There are

§ Identification of beneficiaries with entrepreneurial qualities for the use of CPR.
§ Identification of Small Business Opportunities
§ Business opportunity guidance
§ Training (Skill, managerial and behavioral);
§ Assistance in raw material and marketing
§ Single-window system for necessary support and guidance at the Panchayat level.
§ Monitoring and follow-up.

Besides the foregoing points, firstly there is a need to go for a comprehensive survey of local resources by the Panchayat. Secondly on the basis of the above inventory, an attempt should be made to identify the gap between resource availability and utilization. Thirdly some technical and managerial skill and training should be imparted to the personnel engaged in the training programmes. The vital and the crucial step is to provide appropriate infrastructure facilities at the Panchayat level.

The researcher feels that his Micro level findings of this small district of Keonjhar of Indian State of Orissa can be generalized and applied to a Macro level i.e. the whole country and the benefit of national development can be reaped. Proper management of CPR will not only develop the particular region but also result in optimum use of a fixed factor of production which is nature’s gift i.e. land which can not be increased with the increase in population.

My assignment in Dominica, The Chronicle, London

Catch them young

The health and vitality of a nation is closely linked with its ability to generate wealth through commercial activities and young Dominican entrepreneurs have been given a head start through a Commonwealth-sponsored project. This has facilitated the development of micro credit opportunities for young people wishing to set up a business.

The project, sponsored by The Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) which is run by the Commonwealth Secretariat, was based on the successful Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative (CYCI) model. This creates employment opportunities for young men and women by training them in financial and enterprise management so that they can be approved for obtaining credit to establish a business.

The ultimate aim is that by demonstrating entreprenuerial flair, these young borrowers will increase their creditworthiness and graduate from receiving targeted small credit to borrowing from formal financial institutions such as banks.

Dr Siddhartha Sankar-Dash, a Commonwealth expert on micro-enterprise development from India, was the lead facilitator in this programme. Dr Dash was sponsored by the Commonwealth Service Abroad Programme (CSAP), an innovative volunteer-based programme managed – PLEASE REPLACE THIS WITH THE WORD FUNDED - by the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation.

Dr Dash completed his six-month CSAP placement with the Dominica Youth Business Trust (DYBT), a youth enterprise project faciliated by the CYP’s Caribbean Centre.

“The objective was to set up an effective credit delivery and monitoring system to support young people,” said Dr Dash. “At the same time, we wanted to achieve self-sustainability by generating adequate funds to continue the programme and by leading borrowers towards financial independence.”

Dr Dash was responsible for the initiative Catch them young. After liaising with school principals and preparing carefully designed training modules, he introduced Entrepreneurship Awareness Camps (EAC) for secondary schools across Dominica. He also conducted orientation programmes for youth officers, facilitators and mentors. He then produced proposals to secure funding from donors and trained a team to continue the project.

After a discussion with DYBT trustees and the Ministry of Tourism and Private Sector Affairs, Dr Dash facilitated the drafting of a policy statement on small /micro enterprise in Dominica. Once finalised, this will help the Government by providing direction for investment, technology, infrastructure and credit facilities.

Other aspects of the project included the development of a national CYCI database to monitor the progress of entrepreneurial projects and the strengthening of institutional and development frameworks for micro-entrepreneurship. The project established links between strategic partners, such as financial institutions, private sector, civil society, youth groups, and international development agencies.

For his assistance in building an entrepreneurial culture in Dominica, Dr Dash received a commendation from the Youth Development Division of the Ministry of Education, Human Resources Development, Sports and Youth Affairs.

“Entrepreneurship is not prevalent in Dominica,” Dr Dash said, “and I feel that there is a lot of work to do in the Caribbean with respect to entrepreneurial development, especially with the Caribbean Community Single Market and Economy coming in a very big way. Every Caribbean country has to strengthen its human and material resources and encourage young people to pursue small and micro- enterprises.”

Dr Dash hopes that the measures he has set in motion will continue to develop. “I believe that DYBT needs to be strengthened through allocation of extra resources,” he said.

“There is a need for more expertise in the development of entrepreneurship as a means of creating sustainable livelihoods and alleviating poverty among young men and women in the Caribbean. The rise and fall of a nation depends solely on the entrepreneur and I hope that instead of looking for jobs, more young people will seek to become job creators and that the Government will provide policy support and training.”

Four indigenous youth from the Carib territory of Batica in Dominica benefited from the CYCI project. They underwent weeks of enterprise, personal development and achievement motivation training to prepare them for life as young entrepreneurs. They have plans to venture into businesses that will service the growing tourist market in their community, Batica, which is a small indigenous community about 25 miles from the capital, Roseau. This predominantly farming community comprises eight villages and has a population of about 3,500 persons.

Ms Anabela Charles noted that Batica is one of the favourite places visited by tourists while in Dominica but there is limited accommodation and entertainment available in the community. From the market study conducted as part of her training, she found that a business venture that could offer tourists overnight accommodation and entertainment that reflected the community’s heritage and spirit would create sustainable jobs for young people in the community.

Willis Joseph, another beneficiary, agreed. “Our businesses will be a boost for the community since they will not only create jobs for more youths but will help youths to have the courage to start up their own businesses.”

Last job and job profile

Currently posted as Professor at Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (www.ediindia.org ), a premier Entrepreneurship Teaching, Research and Training Institute of India. Current assignment involves Chairperson, Academic Programmes, under taking Research & Consultancy in the areas of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development

Countries visited

Thailand, Singapore, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Ethiopia, England, Commonwealth of Dominica, Barbados, Guyana, St.Lucia, Antigua, British Virgin Islands, ST.Kitts, Zambia and Switzerland

Projects undertaken in INDIA, AFRICA and THE CARIBBEAN

• Income Generating Projects for the Bangladesh refugee and the indigenous people of Dandakaraynya, Malkangiri, Orissa, India 1982-83.
  
• Sustainable livelihoods and Entrepreneurship development training programme for the river dam displaced youth of Subarnarekha Multipurpose Project, Chotnangpur Jharkhand state,India,93-95
  
• Sustainable livelihoods and Entrepreneurship development training programme for the youth in the periphery of Tiger reserve in the Sawaimadhopur district, Rajasthan state, India, 2001-2002
  
• Empowering the Rural Women through Sustainable livelihoods and Entrepreneurship development training programme, Sawaimadhopur district , Rajasthan, India ,2001-2002
  Empowering the HIV/AIDS infected and affected women through entrepreneurship, appropriate technology and skill development training, Dowa district,Malawi,Africa, 2003-2004
  
• Introduction of technology, skill, marketing and entrepreneurship to the Orange Growers of Mwanza district, Malawi,2003-2005
  
• Entrepreneurship Awareness programme for the school kids under Catch Them Young in the Commonwealth of Dominica, west Indies.2005-2006

international assignments

CFTC Expert, Commonwealth Secretariat, London. (2003-2005), Government of Malawi, Africa. As a CFTC expert in Entrepreneurship Development , I worked in close cooperation with the Executive Director, Malawian Entrepreneurs Development Institute(MEDI), Malawi as regards designing innovative projects on entrepreneurship developments, i.e. EDP’s, EAC’s, TOT’s, Training programmes for HIV/AIDS affected and infected women in Malawi, Research Studies on access and utilization of micro credit for the women of Malawi, negotiated with International donor agencies and other stake holders and introduced entrepreneurship as a subject in polytechnic schools and represented MEDI at various forums in high level meetings.

CSAP Expert, Commonwealth Secretariat, London (September, 2005-March, 2006), Ministry of youth Affairs, Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies. Mostly Training and research in entrepreneurship and small business development for the Youth of Dominica. Created an entrepreneurial culture through developing/conducting several entrepreneurship developments training programs, Mentorship programme, Orientation Programme for the Youth Officers of the Ministry of Youth, drafted a policy statement on small and medium enterprise. Introduce for the first time in the Caribbean on Achievement Motivation Training Programme, EAC’s “Under Catch Them Young” which was very successful in the region.

CSAP Expert, Commonwealth Secretariat, London (June- 27th Dec, 2006), Ministry of Commerce, Investment and Consumer Affairs, Saint Lucia, West Indies. Achievement Motivation Programme, Trainers Training Programme also reviewed and updated the CYP current EDP manual and Training Tools for Standardize Regional use, Catch Them Young programme for school students. Strengthened CYP’s YED Programs in the Caribbean through introduction of several innovative Training Programs

institute building

Founder Director, Entrepreneurship and Management Development Institute (EMI), Jaipur, India. Promoted by Government of India and the Government of Rajasthan. Mainly looking after administration, training and consultancy in the field of entrepreneurship and small business development in the state of Rajasthan, India during 2000-2003. I was the founder Director of the institute and had overseen the building of the institute, recruited faculties, mobilized resources for the institute and organized several entrepreneurship training programs for various target groups. Closely working with the state government and the government of India for the promotion of entrepreneurship in the specialized institute during 2000-2003.

Recent books published by me