SALUTE TO FEMININE POWER Navratri DAY 2

These days having a startup idea is considered to be fortunately  good…  but the same startup idea gets thrown out of the window if it doesnt have scalability… an inherent ability to expand and  make billions of dollars in few years to make huge money if not exactly qualify as a Unicorn. Naturally  every other startup  aspires to be a Unicorn either  immediately or in atleast 10 years or so . 

The real entrepreneurs realize that Ideas breed ideas… and  quite often your first few failed businesses are just the foundation of a sustainable BIG  business idea..

Over 90 of 100 Startups shut down within 5 years and founders take up secure jobs mostly. Even if you are deeply passionate and determined about doing business, how long would you continue to do business when one after the other venture is failing ?  You may just give up at some point since you may have certain liabilities or you just have a safer option of Job through your education ..isnt it ? 

Would you start a business in the first place when your daily meal would come only from the Income generated by your business ? 

Now imagine you are daughter of a daily wage labourer who earns Rs 200 a Day and hardly gets 20-25 days of work a month. Then at age 16 you are married to another labourer and you are forced to walk out of the marriage and home within a year … You are hardly 17 years old.  Forget education or money you don't even have a shelter to stay..…. what would you do ? 

You are free to  come up with some counter questions or with some hypothetical answer to my question … 

But for Kamal Kumbhar from Osmanabad in Maharashtra, life didn't give any options .. 

Living in utter poverty was something she didn't bother about and was probably used to … but when she was thrown out of her marriage at a tender age of 17-18 , with no place to stay and no food to eat … life had smashed a BIG question on her face , back  then in early 1990s 

She left her abusive husband and started to work as independent labourer earning less than 100 a day . But she wanted to take charge of her life… she wanted to do something better.. She somehow borrowed Rs 500/- and started selling bangles door to door  in her village .. Slowly her business started to grow .. She involved other poor ladies from her village in her business and they also started to earn some money.. and just as the group business was growing they started to face competition from  Big City players who had better quality products at cheaper price. Her business was badly affected.  

She had to think of something else … while the highly educated MBA grads today are struggling with problem solving and critical thinking skills , this uneducated, poor girl identified what was her problem and what could be her speciality that could solve her problem .. She focussed on rural specialty of Poultry and Animal husbandry and started that activity,  again making use of the same resources of her network of lady entrepreneurs which she had started grooming in her bangles business.. The new business  gathered momentum.. Parallely she grew her network of women through the Self help groups while simultaneously trying out her hands at Agriculture and other related businesses… within couple of years she was leading a federation of women of self help groups… she now had  groomed more than 5000 women and made them financially independent  with a sustained business activity. She had not only gained financial stability for herself and the womenfolk but given them a great sense of self respect. 

She started Kamal Poultry and Ekta Producer Company in 1998 without  much knowledge of business and  marketing, with an investment of Rs 2,000. The company now sells about Rs 1 lakh every month. 

In 2012, she became a clean energy entrepreneur and lit up over 3000 homes with solar-powered devices, after training as an “Energy Sakhi” in SSP ’s “women in clean energy program”, 

Kamal now owns six business ventures earning the moniker “serial entrepreneur”. She owns a range of agriculture-allied businesses.. 

From a vulnerable weak poor helpless woman in early nineties to a strong influential determined entrepreneur leading more than 10000 women, lighting up their lives all along her journey is the determined energetic Kamal Kumbhar for you. Now she confidently talks  english words like Leadership , financial stability and many other. 

 

No wonder she was chosen by then President of India Hon Ramnath Kovind for Rashtriya Nari Shakti Puraskar 2021… 

Some of the other prominent of hundreds of her awards are 

• CII Foundation's Woman Exemplar award from The President Pranab Mukherjee.

• Women Transforming India Award, 2017, organized by United Nations and NITI Aayog.

Readers,  thats the Colour Red for you today.. Colour of energy, determination and love for Life … 

Just in case you  would feel inspired to be a Rural Entrepreneur like Kamal, make sure you have a Solid REASON - the Drive to do so and then the following information might be a handy support

• How To Become A Rural Entrepreneur ?

Rural Entrepreneurship is much easier now with internet and Government and corporate support available almost across the country , you can be a highly successful Rural entrepreneur by being in the rural area and helping the rural population lead a better life by helping them solve their problems.

Government supports  such ventures enthusiastically 

• Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programme (ESDP) By Government Of India :

The following activities are conducted under the ESDP Scheme

1. Industrial Motivational Campaign (IMC) – Two days

2. Entrepreneurship Awareness Programme (EAP) – Two Weeks

3. Entrepreneurship-cum-Skill Development Programme (E-SDP) – Six Weeks

4. Management Development Programme (MDP) – One Week

Also if you want study rural development and entrepreneurship programs then,there are many colleges which are providing good courses in this field. 

• Some of such institutions

1. Indian Institute Of Delhi, (IIT Delhi) 

2. IRMA

3. Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University, Nagpur

4. Tata Institute Of Social Sciences, Tuljapur

5. University Of Mumbai, Institute Of Distance & Open Learning [IDOL], Mumbai

6. Entrepreneurship Development Institute Of India, Ahmedabad 

7. Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad

8. Amity School of Rural Management, Uttar Pradesh

9. Xavier Institute of Development Action and Studies (XIDAS), Jabalpur

10. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research (WeSchool), Mumbai etc.

Well, giving you info about colleges may sound a bit ironic since we just read about Kamal… but then  its wise to use the resources which we have and which we can .. 

Having said that lets not forget that success doesn't come unless you burn the bridges of comfort, Lets thank almighty for  the life he has given us and lets resolve to make it bigger just like KAMAL did… 

That was the Second Durga for you … 

Brahmacharini 

Avinash Deshmukh 

Career Coach 

Team BOLDNET India 

9657600076