Strengthening collaboration with the private sector
Promoting entrepreneurship among the underprivileged youth in India is by no means a straight forward task as many developing economies have struggled to encourage an entrepreneurial spirit among their population. This struggle could be predicated over the lack of avenues to harness the capabilities and resources for developing manpower well-equipped to successfully conceptualise and operate start-ups and other self-started businesses.
The issue of high level of unemployment in the country has posed a serious challenge for the government as absorbing the educated unemployed youth into the public sector is an expensive and therefore, unsustainable course of action. While there are opportunities in the private sector, many of these positions are currently occupied by expats due to their specialised nature. Acknowledging this, one of the viable solutions to the above problems is to promote entrepreneurship as a means of growing the private sector to provide employment, diversify the economy and ultimately reduce reliance on government and promote the very ethos of the government of India to create a self-reliant nation, Atma Nirbhar Bharat.
There is empirical evidence to demonstrate that Micro, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (MSMEs) have traditionally played a significant role in the economic growth of developed and developing nations alike. Researchers have highlighted the importance of MSMEs as sustainable sources to provide income and alleviate high levels of poverty particularly in developing regions. The funding bodies have also echoed similar thought and advocated for the development of the private sector using MSMEs to address social and economic deprivation.
AEEDU has envisaged to work with stakeholders to highlight the benefit of new business and start-ups while also simultaneously elaborating an understanding of different factors that would befit and motivate the potential entrepreneurs. AEEDU will form Entrepreneurship Development networks at state level to promote entrepreneurship. AEEDU Networks will form district level coalition of beneficiaries, service providers and other stakeholders to link beneficiaries to the technology, finance, market and other supports.