By Matters India reporter
Bangalore, March 23, 2022: Corporates in Bangalore in collaboration with Functional Vocational Training and Research Society (FVTRS) initiated a project to grant seed money for school dropout women to start business for their sustainable livelihood.
In the initial stage, 200 selected prospective women entrepreneurs in Bangalore received seed money of Rs.12,000 to initiate a new business, 23 March 2022.
Citibank through Child Fund India provided the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) support to the first batch of 200 women, out of 1,400 women in Karnataka selected for empowerment through this program.
The Corporator (Muncipal Councilor) of Ramurthynagar Ward Shantha Krishnamurthy inaugurated the program, implemented with the help of St. Joseph Sisters of Tarbes.
“Through this initiative we hope to empower more women in one of the poorest wards of Bangalore,” says President of FVTRS Salesian Fr. V.M. Thomas.
The seed money help start small canteens, garment making and selling, beautician, tailoring, biryani and kababs, sweets, flower selling, fish and meat sale, cloth selling and other initiatives.
Similar seed money distribution for another 400 women entrepreneurs will be held in Mangalore with help of Bethany Sisters on 26th March 2022.
FVTRS will be working in several locations in Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore and other towns in Karnataka.
This project is based on studies which show that only 50% or less of men’s earnings in urban poor families benefit the family while money earned by women will directly and entirely benefit the family.
FVTRS came up with this women’s entrepreneurship project for school drop outs as all formal vocational and technical training institutes demand minimum qualification of class 10 pass.
Skill based entrepreneurship gives marginalised women not only dignity but also financial independence and power to make decision.
Almost 400 million people – more than 85 per cent of the working population in India – work in the unorganised sector. Of these, at least 120 million are women. There has been no systematic and concerted attempts made to skill them better, update and diversify their skills.
Bangalore based FVTRS founded in 1993 is governed by a 16-member strong General Body constituted from Institutional set-ups like Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), Caritas India, Indo-Global Social Service Society (IGSSS) and Conference of Religious India (CRI).
Starting this type of project for micro enterprise is easy. It will be good for FVTRS to do a constant, systematic and continuous monitoring of this project and SHOW THE END RESULTS.
Unfortunately, today many NGOs in India are still on the “CHARITY-MODE”. The NGOs have to move towards RIGHTS-BASED MODE. This is the need of the hour.