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RURAL ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

Purpose

The purpose of Rural Enterprise Development Programme is to stimulate the growth of enterprises in rural areas with special focus on participation of the less advantaged farmers of a region. Manavodaya proposes to train potential business leaders for rural sector, called Manager Trainess, by layering Conscious Living practices over entrepreneurial skills and then deploying them to create and run rural development enterprises.

Creation

Manager Trainees

The Manager Trainees shall consist of young professionals who have a background education in business management or equivalent real-world experience. They could even be persons from rural areas who have demonstrated successful business acumen.

The selection process shall be based on a 2-step screening process.

The first step will be
designed to gauge the candidates’ business acumen.
The second step will be designed to evaluate the humane approach of the candidate.

The selection committee will include a veteran business person. The first list of potential trainees shall be developed through sending out brochures and survey documents for initial screening.

Ten (10) Manager Trainees will be recruited and trained every year of which seven (7) are expected to continue with the programme till the end.


The trainees will be provided a stipend during the period and will be expected to set up a farmer organization, mobilize up to 150 farmers of the region and start an agri-business activity according to the resource base of the area.

Maturity

Participant trainees shall be assessed for their performance against preset targets on a monthly and quarterly schedule. By the end of one year they will be expected to develop the business plan for their enterprise and arrange credit for commencement of operations with participation of people in accordance with market requirements. They shall receive stipend support for a total of three years based upon successful performance. They will be expected
to have achieved adequate revenue generation from the activities of the company by year 3 to support his/her continued employment as CEO of the company.

Farmer Producer Companies

Farmer producer companies will be the first program undertaken by the Manager Trainees of Rural Enterprise Development.
Farmer Companies have to meet specific regulatory requirements that are typically outside the experience set of Manager Trainees. Therefore, Manavodaya will provide specialized support to Manager Trainees. 

They include:

1. Regulatory Complaince
There are several regulatory compliances related to auditing, banking and company law that are to be followed on a systematic basis failing which there could be severe penalties imposed. The Management Trainees will be expected to know and follow such compliances.
2. Social Mobilization
It will be important for the Management Trainees to mobilize the poor farmers of a region in a manner that they participate effectively in decision making relating to various aspects of management, technology and business development.
3. Participatory Resource Assessment and Business Development Planning
This is key to the success of the Farmer Company. It involves building a practical plan of action based on the resource assessment of the area, choice of technology for processing of produce and linkage to the mainstream market. It also involves arrangement of credit for the purpose. The Management Trainees have to undertake this exercise with the participation of various stakeholders.
The above support will be provided by Manavodaya using the services of experts as necessary.
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