Thiruvananthapuram: After the success of its women empowerment initiatives like Kudumbashree, a community-based poverty reduction project, and She-Taxi, Kerala is gearing up to set another landmark by creating country’s largest social entrepreneurship network of women.
The programme, ‘Sandesh One’, scheduled to be launched by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on January 12, will be a network of 1000-plus women to generate mass employment at the grassroots level by promoting various micro-enterprises.
The totally entrepreneur-driven venture is initiated by Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation (KSWDC) under the state Social Justice Department.
A top KSWDC official said the core objective of the initiative is to promote and implement socially relevant development initiatives from the grassroots level through a network of empowered women.
“World is witnessing a social enterprise movement. Unlike conventional industries, social enterprise is about developing solutions against pressing societal challenges. The ‘Sandesh One’ programme is designed to achieve this target,” KSWDC Managing Director PTM Sunish said.
Over 1000 women entrepreneurs would be selected from village panchayats under the programme and be given a six-month residential training under the aegis of IIM Ahmedabad and IL&FS, a major skill development company in the country.
After getting trained in entrepreneurial skills and knowledge management, these entrepreneurs would open ‘Sandesh One Centres’ in all panchayats of the state.
The Centres will showcase various micro enterprise projects and their high-end solutions that can positively influence the society and improve quality of lives, he said.
“Sandesh entrepreneurs will showcase projects in areas such as high-tech agriculture, preventive healthcare, water management, waste management, renewable energy, deforestation, safety solutions and so on at each centre,” he said.
“They will provide technology solutions to interested entrepreneurs and help them start enterprises in respective areas. They will act as catalysts of socio-economic development,” he said.