Blended Finance instrument to build a mass entrepreneurship movement gets anchor funding; 1:10 leverage expected on capital to be raised for micro entrepreneurs
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. 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 is actively seeking interest from mission-aligned philanthropic organizations to secure the remaining funds, as part of a co-funding syndicate.
Through their proprietary technology platform (UDITI) and unique intervention model, LetsEndorse powers the maturation journeys of micro-enterprise aspirants, having 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%+ females, and ~10% 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, offering a technology-enabled, human-assisted, phygital, sustainable, and scalable mode to nurture mass entrepreneurship, standing out in its saturation-based approach, urban/semi-urban focus, embedded sustainability, and horizontally scalable platforms approach. More about Udyamita can be found here: https://www.udyamita.org/ and here: https://bit.ly/UDYAMITA_Vid