‘Social media can help empower rural entrepreneurs in the country’ 

Self-reliant India or Atmanirbhar Bharat is the vision of a new India envisaged by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The aim is to make the country and its citizens independent and self-reliant in all senses. Rural entrepreneurship is one of the key aspects of an Atmanirbhar Bharat. Inducing a new entrepreneurial energy among students, the School of Education, NSS (National Service Scheme), Unnat Bharat Abhiyan and Rotaract Club of Apeejay Stya University (ASU) in collaboration with the Mahatma Gandhi National Council of Rural Education (MGNCRE), Ministry of Education, Government of India, recently organised a webinar on ‘Rural Entrepreneurship’.

Ms Tuti Sandhya, Resource Person at MGNCRE, was the guest speaker at the webinar. She began her address to students by emphasising,“Villagers living in rural areas of India are very skillful. A lot of innovation comes from them. They create unique products and these indigenous innovations are solutions to their problems. This is what entrepreneurship is about: innovate a product or create a solution to solve an existing problem.” Around 35 participants attended the webinar. Interacting with them, she said, “Our role is to identify these villages and skilled villagers and subsequently, promote their innovation.” Ms Sandhya further mentioned that these villagers or rural entrepreneurs face challenges in terms of marketing or promoting their products. 

Brainstorming techniques on how to help the villagers,  one of the students, Supriya Chaudhary, said, “The products from these villagers can be marketed via social media.” Another student, Sneha Jajoo, added, “Most people in rural areas own smartphones these days. They can create small videos of the making of the products like making of cane baskets or earthen or clay pots and share it via WhatsApp and upload it on Facebook which would help in creating awareness.”

Ms Sandhya also said that resource mapping, social mapping and historical mapping of the village become imperative to identify rural entrepreneurs in our country.  “One of the key advantages is that rural entrepreneurship would open more employment opportunities as well as empower both men and women. All in all, it would upgrade the standard of living of the villagers while adding to the overall economic development of the country,” added Ms Sandhya.    

“We are often talking about sustainable development in the country and it’s possible to achieve this. We must start focusing on rural entrepreneurship and help natives of villages in India to start their small and medium-sized ventures. There is a massive scope to do business in rural areas and it’s time we capture the skilled workforce residing in these regions.”

– Dr. Vijay Kumar, Teacher Educator, School of Education, Apeejay Stya University