Swavlamban for Rural Associate, or the SWAR Fellowship program, by SIDBI Swavlamban Foundation and IVolunteer brought an opportunity for young and commited changemakers to transform the lives of rural communities, through entrepreneurial knowledge and practices. The objective of the fellowship is to provide an exposure to the fellows, to grassroot challenges and empower them to contribute their skills and best efforts. To bring innovation, income and impact in the rural communities, through income generating or income enhancing activities. Establishing value chains of local products, kitchen gardens and awareness on menstrual health and much more. The fellowship also aims to develop entrepreneurial bent of mind of the fellows. After witnessing the real life challenges faced by the communities, a young person may have ideas to work on such issues.
Through this fellowship, I got the opportunity to explore the fruit processing industry as I was attached with GramUrja Foundation. In a women-led Farmer Producer Company, enhancing their income by establishing a value chain of custard apple. I was supposed to build an enterprise around custard apple, which is locally available in the Balaghat forest ranges, the GI tagged fruit of Beed district of Maharashtra. As a part of the value chain, we trained women in
- The skills of harvesting, processing, and value addition,
- procured custard apples from women harvesters at a fair price
- processed the fruits into pulp,
- produced value added products like sitaphal rabdi, and kulfi and
- brought to market through exhibitions and B2B sales to restuarants, caterers and small retail businesses.
Through this initiative more than 100 women has significantly enhanced their income by selling and processing custard apple, skilled in processing, value addition and marketing. I did not have any prior experience of agriculture or the processing industry and even not in enterprise development. But what it takes to be an entrepreneur?
It takes a chance, a courage to take risk and a commitment to bring change. And, In your 20s, if you ever get a chance to build something of your own, take that chance. What it will definitely unfold is your potential and the locked doors that you would never have expected to come to you. Through this project, I took a chance to lead, to build and to contribute my best knowledge, skills and efforts to bring this project into structure and establish a value chain of custard apple. My major role has been in planning, establishing forward linkages of the value chain be it fruits, pulp, and other value added products, documentation with an additional charge outreach and fundraising. Little did I have ever known that in a quantum of year, I’ll find my calling in entrepreneurship and all the cosmic energies along with the project, my role and the exposure would help me find a hidden entrepreneur in me.
But all this has not came at once, it was built, I was bent, degree by degree with every decision I took, with every negotiation I made, and with every exposure and engagement with stakeholders in the market, the communities, with the experts and the mentor, has guided me throughout this. Entrepreneurs are the developers and I had been one too, as a part of value addition of custard apple pulp, me and my team has developed the two new products of sitaphal kulfi and sitaphal rabdi. With tens of trials, we developed the standard and tested in the market through various exhibitions. The products came out to be fit for market and are ready to be scaled. My role of establishing market linkages has brought me an understanding of pulp processing industry, B2B markets and direct consumer markets through extensive market research and exposure visits to Ghoomar Farmer Producer Company – a women led FPC in processing of custard apples, jamun, ber, tamarind etc., Bastar Se Bazaar Tak – a social enterprise in processing of forest based products and Tribal Veda – a Shark Tank brand of Jamun value added products. This has deepened my understanding of various models of social enterprise exposing me to advantages and challenges of each one. I have got to build the skills of effective networking, approaching right people for the right cause, and establish collaboration with the industry experts. Understanding of unit economics, costs and margins has developed me to think and act like an entrepreneur. One of my move of negotiating and decision making has brought me to crack my first profitable business deal. This was with respect to selling of ripe custard apples in the organic markets of Andhra Pradesh. I have facilitated the visit of the buyer, established trust and committed for serving the best quality of fruits. I negotiated for the selling price and pushed it from 25Rs/Kg to 28 Rs/Kg and through this. the FPC earned a revenue of Rs 75,000. In Business, customer is always called “the God” and customer satisfaction is the only thing an enterprise should aim for and through this project I got understand customer demand, and learn the skill of customer engagement through communication and establishing trust, and understood the importance of customer retention which has took me to the path of entrepreneurship. Enterprises can not be build without ethics, and through this one year of fellowship, I have realised the importance of business ethics, and imbibed them into myself, any enterprise standing on the base of honesty and led with clarity of cause attracts success.
These are some few incidents that had established my roots as a budding entrepreneur. And now, the case is that majority of my social media reels throw me an idea or introduces me to a new business concept or a case study and the only advertisements that pops up in my phone, calls up for pursing MBA from IIMs and other renounced institutions. My mind has adapted this well enough to bring me an entrepreneurial idea to many social issue that I see around with a social, environmental and an economical angle to it. Let me know in the comments to discuss some of pageful of ideas, I have noted in my diary.
Objective of swar fellowship, what is required to be an entrepreneur,
About my project, my role in my project, what things I have done that require and entrepreneurial mindset , how I’m budding as a entrepreneur, what’s my future steps.
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