Synopsis: Udyamita by LetsEndorse is a systematic, data-driven, technology-enabled, and human-assisted, maturation model of identifying, nurturing and enabling people to become nano/micro-entrepreneurs. Through their proprietary technology platform (UDITI) and unique intervention model, LetsEndorse powers the maturation journeys of micro-enterprise aspirants. LetsEndorse has strategized efforts with NSDC, SIDBI, several state Governments, and public sector banks, to foster sustainable livelihoods at the BoP. Presently working in ~115 districts across 5 states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Telangana, in the last 20 months, they have enabled 4,500+ enterprises with ~INR 65 crore of enterprise investments (including credit facilitation of ~INR 34 crore, two-thirds of which have been at sub-12% interest rate, under various Government schemes). These enterprises (72% new, 28% existing) come from both urban and rural backgrounds (roughly 50:50), 70%+ being females, and ~10% being differently-abled. Building on the learning, immersive insights, the unique vantage point and with a vision to turn this into a rapidly scalable and sustainable model, LetsEndorse has initiated the development of UDYAMITA 2.0, which offers a technology-enabled and human-assisted, phygital, sustainable and scalable mode to nurture mass entrepreneurship. The UDYAMITA 2.0 model stands out in its saturation-based approach, an urban/semi-urban focus, embedded sustainability and horizontally scalable platforms approach. To develop, launch and deliver Udyamita 2.0, over the next 30 months (across 3 cohorts), in 8 select cities (in a hub-&-spoke model), LetsEndorse has secured an endorsement and an anchor funding commitment of 40% of the requirement and are actively seeking interest from mission-aligned philanthropic organizations to secure the remaining funds, as part of a co-funding syndicate. More about Udyamita can be found here:https://www.udyamita.org/ and here: https://bit.ly/UDYAMITA_Vid

India is at a point in its demographic transition where we need to maximize the chance of capturing the demographic dividend, which is expected to peak in 2041 as per the Economic Survey (2018-19). The "low road" for achieving high employment, characterized by a focus on expanding low-wage jobs, has not worked in all countries and often led to continued poverty traps. Micro-entrepreneurship provides tremendous potential for reaping this demographic dividend.

The nation needs to create 12 million jobs per year to absorb the addition of young people into the workforce. There is broad agreement about the relative power and role of entrepreneurship in capturing a demographic dividend. India needs to facilitate the absorption of labor into productive employment, promote and support mission-aligned entrepreneurship development programmes and policies and create an economic environment that will facilitate realization of the dividend sought. Given that India's workforce starts at a younger age, a greater focus needs to be on transitioning from secondary education to universal skilling and entrepreneurship.

With the Government's push on #AatmaNirbharBharat, India is also undergoing a policy and digital transformation, offering a pathway for gainful economic opportunities, by taking up entrepreneurship.

LetsEndorse is a social enterprise established in 2015 with a vision to build a collaborative and convergent ecosystem to solve social issues at scale, sustainably and irreversibly. Funded by Social Alpha (a Tata Trusts initiative), during the first 4.5 years, the organization worked with 2500+ grassroots NGO, 500+ social innovators from ~40 nations, several corporations, and State Governments to build and grow a digital marketplace of scalable social innovations and deployed over 500 fitting social innovations across UN SDGs across India for the communities in need. LetsEndorse also built a range of technology platforms for NGOs, Corporations & Governments to foster transparency, accountability & efficiency.

In Dec 2019, LetsEndorse developed the UDYAMITA 1.0 model of micro-entrepreneurship development, in association with SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India), and went live in 115 districts across 5 states of India, with a goal to set up or scale-up 10,000 nano/micro-enterprises with first-ever microcredit connect & financial inclusion. With this, they built a collaborative model of capacity building of over 150 grassroots NGOs in catering to the 115 districts in an asset-light model, a horizontal technology platform for driving entrepreneur maturation journeys, and developed a sound understanding of and liaison with Governmental stakeholders and custodians of various MSME schemes. The success and uniqueness of the model led them to also sign a partnership with the Government of Maharashtra for replication in 6 districts on a pilot basis.

Across the 5 states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Telangana, in the last 20 months, they have enabled 4,500+ enterprises with ~INR 65 crore of enterprise investments (including credit facilitation of ~INR 34 crore, two-thirds of which have been at sub-12% interest rate, under various Government schemes). These enterprises (72% new and 28% existing) come from both urban and rural backgrounds (roughly 50:50), 70%+ being females, and ~10% being differently-abled.

Building on the learning, immersive insights and the unique vantage point from Udyamita 1.0 and with a vision to turn this into a rapidly scalable and sustainable model, LetsEndorse has initiated the development of UDYAMITA 2.0, which offers a technology-enabled and human-assisted, phygital, sustainable and scalable mode to nurture mass entrepreneurship. UDYAMITA 2.0 is certified, recognized and accredited by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Through their proprietary technology platform (UDITI) and unique intervention model, they power the maturation journeys of micro-enterprise aspirants by identifying, nurturing, and enabling aspirants from lower and mid-economic segments to become empowered micro-entrepreneurs in 100 days. UDYAMITA spans identifying aspirants through omnichannel outreach and nurturing them through determining their enterprise-readiness score, identifying fitting business model algorithmically (based on their aspiration, experience, and local market needs), linking them to skill-trainings, imparting an entrepreneurship development program over vernacular mobile-application, auto-generating comprehensive business-plans, enabling micro-credit access from banks (under Government schemes and from NBFCs), ensuring backward/forward linkages and offering a support network (SEASN- Small Enterprise Association and Support Network) for growth mentorship post establishment.

Some of the recent recognitions of their model include winning the MeitY NASSCOM Women Entrepreneur Awards 2020-21 in partnership with UN Women (Livelihoods Category), winning NASSCOM Foundation TechForGood Awards Powered by CGI 2021 (Livelihood/For-Profit category), and winning the HDFC Smart-UP grants (Livelihoods category)- 2020-21.

Over the next 24 months, with UDYAMITA 2.0, LetsEndorse is targeting the launch of ~5000 new micro-enterprises, scaling-up of ~5000 existing micro-enterprises and enabling access of an average credit sum of INR 2 lacs/micro-enterprise (in 75-100% of the cases). The intervention is anticipated to lead to an average 40% increase in income in one year, 3-5x direct and indirect employment generation, and the survival of at least 97% of enterprises after 6/12 months. UDYAMITA 2.0 is powered by their horizontal UDITI platform & mobile app (with scalable architecture and integrable components) which forms the backbone for managing, delivering & automating enterprise maturation journeys. The platform follows the Modern Data & Analytics Governance Framework to define decision rights and accountabilities while being agile. Some of the salient aspects of Udyamita 2.0 include:

• Urban/Semi-urban concentration: With its focus on urban/semi-urban youth/women, in a Hub-and-Spoke model for knowledge harnessing and consistent impact quality, the aim is to roll out 3 cohorts (in a staggered manner) in 8 cities- (i) Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow & Kanpur + Ghaziabad & Noida) (ii) Telangana (Hyderabad & Warangal) (iii) Delhi & Haryana (Delhi + Gurugram/Faridabad)
• Saturation Approach: For maximization of the micro-entrepreneurial potential of select geographies in a focused manner and while deep-diving into fewer (8-12) enterprise types and building their robust value-chains, they are looking at building robustness of the model and vertical consolidation of efforts.
• Embedded Sustainability: UDYAMITA 2.0 is designed with inbuilt sustainability embedded into its operations. Sustainability models shall include the development of value chains, linkages with financial institutions, and fee-based/skill-loan-based entrepreneurship competency development, among others. The model is designed to become self-sustainable after three cohorts, without any requirement for grant support. An investment made today will continue to empower micro-entrepreneurs in perpetuity.
• Platform Scalability: The horizontal platform UDITI with which Udyamita 2.0 maturation process and curriculum are delivered, will be made accessible to any NGO/skill-training/academic institution. For efficient outreach & entrepreneurial capacity building, Udyamita 2.0 incorporates a Partner model run on its platform with inbuilt automation, rules, recommendation engines, a maturation tracker, capacity building curriculum, and more!
• Integrated Maturation Process: Carefully designed for 360-degree capacity-building including a digital entrepreneurial capacity-building program and continuous hand-holding and mentorship, the model is designed for execution thoroughness and has evolved to be well-rounded.

To develop, launch and deliver Udyamita 2.0, over the next 30 months (across 3 cohorts), in 8 select cities (in a hub-&-spoke model), LetsEndorse is raising INR 27 crores. Of the required sum, from the inbuilt sustainability model, they strive to meet 18-20%. They have secured an endorsement and an anchor funding commitment of 40% of the requirement and are actively seeking interest from mission-aligned philanthropic organizations to secure the remaining funds, as part of a co-funding syndicate.

Over the next 5-7 years, with the UDYAMITA model, LetsEndorse has the opportunity to enable 1 million micro-entrepreneurs, unlock INR 50,000 cr+ of micro-enterprise financing, generate at least 3 million direct employment, and create a massive impact on the country's grassroots economy. More about Udyamita can be found here: https://www.udyamita.org/ and here: https://bit.ly/UDYAMITA_Vid

Get in touch with the LetsEndorse team:
Varun Kashyap, Co-founder, [email protected]
Monika Shukla, Co-founder, [email protected]