Enabled by Amazon, the program strives to foster entrepreneurship among 30,000 young individuals and women across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra
As more women and young individuals embrace entrepreneurship as a means to create a more secure future for themselves, it has become non-negotiable to gain the required skills, resources and financial literacy. In an attempt to bridge the gap on the digital as well as financial literacy front, Amazon India has rolled out the ‘Entrepreneurship for Enablement’ initiative.
Enabled by Amazon, the initiative aims to promote entrepreneurship among 30,000 youth and women across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. It aims to take a comprehensive approach to entrepreneurship with a strong focus on women’s economic empowerment and digital integration.
In an interview with BW Businessworld, Karuna Shanker Pande, Vice President, Amazon Logistics, India shed light on the objectives of the initiative, its timeline, follow-up mechanisms and other insights regarding the program.
“The program that we are launching is in collaboration with Access Development Services. This is a three-year livelihood enablement program. It has a comprehensive approach to entrepreneurship with a strong focus on women’s economic empowerment and digital integration,” Pande stated.
The program will not only focus on what resources and services are available but will also help in developing the concept of how to access them. This will also be making sure that everything which is required for a sustainable business is what they are leaning on
Comprehensive Approach To Entrepreneurship
Being run over a three-year cycle, the initiative aims to reach over 30,000 women and youth through livelihoods awareness campaigns as well as empower 3,000 entrepreneurs through systematic business development and handholding support. It also seeks to enable 90 per cent of participants to effectively use smartphones and digital platforms and facilitate 80 per cent to actively engage with digital payment applications.
Increasing banking service usage among 60 per cent of participants, securing insurance coverage for 30 per cent through government schemes as well as enrolling 80 per cent in relevant government support programs are some other broader objectives of the initiative.
Business Development, Handholding Approach
The whole approach of the initiative is directed towards systematic business development and handholding support. The company intends to empower the entrepreneurs as well as enable the participants to effectively use smartphones and digital platforms.
Pande stated, “What we want is that beyond the three years, this becomes sustainable. That can happen through business development handholding as well as by enabling them in terms of how they effectively use the technology, which is there on smartphones or digital platforms, digital applications, digital payments and increasing banking services. Those are the things that will be provided as input throughout the three years.”
As far as the timeline is concerned, Pande added that the approach is to get it in the funnel in all three areas within the year.
Tracking The Progress
The company will be regularly monitoring all the cohorts till 2027. Pande highlighted that the programme objectives are very clear. “There will be markers through which we will be able to see the progress of the program in these three cohorts. Basis that, we will fine-tune and plan to further, basis these learnings over the three years, evaluate the next steps,” he added.
The Foundation Of The Initiative
Highlighting that a study on unemployment in 2023 by the ILO revealed that a quarter of India’s youth aged between 15 to 24 are not in formal education, employment or training, Pande pointed out that women represent almost five times more than their male counterparts in the above numbers.
“Additionally, what was highlighted in the study was that 65 per cent of girls between the age of 15 to 18 years drop out of school due to household chores responsibilities. This problem intensifies largely because awareness or access of skill upgradation is not there. Vocational training courses are also limited,” he added.
Pande added that there was an urgent need to get these women out of the unpaid kind of structure to somewhere where they get into livelihood and economic growth which is made available to them and is also something sustainable.
Selecting These 3 States
As the initiative is being run in three states, Pande stated that while the core reason for selecting them was that the company has a strong footprint of its network in these areas, there are other crucial factors at play. Factors like the existing economic activities and the unique entrepreneurial potential available in these states were major contributors.
The agricultural enterprise and food manufacturing units in Haryana, the significant scope for traditional handicrafts in Uttar Pradesh and the potential of pottery, power loom units, food manufacturing units as well traditional handicrafts in Maharashtra were among the few driving forces.
Collaborators And Partners
As Amazon India has partnered with Access Development Services for this initiative, Pande stated that this was due to the focus on youth and women empowerment. He noted that the company is already present in these areas through its community engagement programs.
He highlighted, “This is a much deeper work which we are doing, which is focusing on youth and women empowerment, in particular, which is the forte or the strength of the partner that we have chosen. The other government agencies who are there would also participate, but more like a collaboration. The focal point would be Amazon and Access Development Services.”
By delivering transformative outcomes across digital inclusion, enterprise development and women’s empowerment, this initiative aims to empower entrepreneurs, foster self-reliance and support India’s vision for inclusive growth.
