IIE Signs MOU With MORD To Enhance Impact Of Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Programme

New Delhi: In line with the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), to promote entrepreneurship at a local level amongst the rural youth.

The agreement calls for the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP), a sub-scheme of the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), to promote employment opportunities in rural India, particularly by developing self-employment avenues for unemployed rural people.

By developing a sustainable model for village entrepreneurship promotion, the programme aims to enable the rural poor (from the SHG ecosystem) to start their businesses. This will be accomplished through the use of integrated ICT techniques and tools for training, capacity building, business advisory services, and the provision of loans from banks, SHGs, and federations.

Dr Lalit Sharma, Director of IIE, and Shri Raghvendra Pratap Singh, Director of MoRD, signed the MoU in the presence of Shri Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, MSDE, Ms Anuradha Vemuri, Joint Secretary, MSDE, and Shri Charanjit Singh, Joint Secretary, MoRD.

The Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), Guwahati, Assam, will act as a National Resource Organisation (NRO) for the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) and will provide support to the State Rural Livelihoods Mission (SRLM) for the scheme's successful implementation. The NRO is expected to play a two-fold role in the SVEP's implementation, i.e., the Implementation Role, which will include direct SVEP implementation in the blocks as implementing partners with the States, and the Programme Scale-Up Role, in which IIE will be responsible for scaling up the scheme based on the blocks' experience with the SVEP and their prior experience with entrepreneurship development programmes.

The main objective of the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) is to develop local resources by training a pool of village-level cadre of community resource persons (CRP-EP) and building the capacity of the NRLM and SHG federations to monitor and direct the work of the CRPEPs. The programme will also help rural entrepreneurs access to finance for starting their enterprises from the NRLM SHGs and federations, the banking systems, including the MUDRA.

Commenting on the MoU, Mr Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, said, "The Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) being implemented by the IIE is a great way to empower the youth of rural India with the relevant skill sets and promote entrepreneurship at the local level." With the experience that IIE has, we will ensure strong implementation mechanisms and handholding support to State Rural Livelihoods Missions (SRLMs) implementing the Start-up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP). We are certain that this will further boost the employment opportunities in rural India, with a step in the direction of Atmanirbhar Bharat, and as our Hon’ble Prime Minister states, startups will be the backbone of the New India of our dreams."

With the MoU in place, the MoRD will inform all states/UTs about IIE's empanelment as an NRO under the SVEP to help accelerate growth. In addition, IIE will work closely with SRLMs to serve as the SVEP's National Resource Organization. IIE and the respective SRLM will be in charge of allocating SVEP blocks for implementation. Additionally, because MoRD will not be involved in the allocation of SVEP blocks to NRO for programme implementation, a separate MoU should be signed between NRO and SRLM for SVEP implementation.

The Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), Guwahati, Assam, established in 1993, is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. The institute's main goal is to provide training, research, and consulting services to small and micro enterprises (SMEs), with a special emphasis on entrepreneurship development.