The Center for Entrepreneurship Development (CED), Gujarat is a government-run organization that aims to promote entrepreneurship in the state of Gujarat, India. In their 12 days of CED training, they focus on providing practical and theoretical knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship. The training covers various topics such as identifying business opportunities, market research, preparing a business plan, financial management, marketing strategies and more.
The objective is to equip aspiring entrepreneurs with the skills and knowledge necessary to start and run a successful business.
In the month of September 2022, CED Gujarat in collaboration with Sakhi Sangini (a women’s collective I’m working with), organized this training in the area of Pathan fariya in Bhuj, Kutch. Here, 20 women participated and completed it successfully. Over the period of 12 days, different resource persons came to teach a range of topics such as market research, product development, and branding support, to help micro and small entrepreneurs to develop and grow their businesses.
Here are a few things I learnt:
Factors to keep in mind to start the business
SWOT Analysis – A framework to evaluate the business and develop a strategy accordingly.
To live, survive and have wings
Banks and Loans
To identify the type of business and under which category you need loans.
Gujarat Government has introduced a new scheme for the employees of cottage industry – Sri Vajpayee Banking Yojana. This scheme offers financial support to the craftspersons. The amount of loan one can avail in industrial sector, service sector, and trade sector is INR 8 Lakhs.
Market survey
A market survey is an investigation of a particular product or service, including an analysis of consumers’ needs, and preferences. For example, during Covid, many people lost their jobs. One of our trainers was in touch with the local community members. So, she took orders from Nagar Palika and generated employment for people by having them stitch masks in large numbers. Along with many other artisans, she too got a job.
Industrial visit
One industrial visit with the women was organized on the last day to nearby small industries where Ajrakh print and block prints work is done. The motive behind this visit was to know how to start small businesses and run them profitably. After completion of the training, all the women received certificates from Gujarat government. With the help of this certificate, they can avail loans from banks at concessional rates.
Of these 20 women, three showed immediate interest in starting their small venture. Business planning was done with them through a brief introduction about the kind of business they want to start, what product/service they want to sell, how much capacity they have to work in a year, whom they see as target customers, what kind of machinery and equipments they require, do they need more people, raw material, total cost and means of finance. After this process, they recieved interest free loans from Dream Foundation.
CED training in Gujarat is an excellent initiative by the state government to promote entrepreneurship and support aspiring entrepreneurs. Another batch of this training will be conducted in different areas of Bhuj in collaboration with Sakhi Sangini – “To empower women, start small and dream big.”
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