January 2021 Newsletter

deAsra Foundation has been nurturing entrepreneurship for over 6 years and has shaped the lives of 1 Lac+ entrepreneurs. In order to positively impact the entrepreneurial ecosystem, we have also started engaging in research and policy advocacy while leveraging our experience of working with entrepreneurs, community partners and service providers. We are also actively collaborating with entrepreneurship development organisations to design & implement on-ground entrepreneurship programs. We are eager to share some of our recent achievements with you!

Discussing Need for Separate Recognition of Nano Enterprises

Consortium of Indian Associations (CIA), an apex MSME body representing around 50 MSME associations spread across the country has demanded the government to create a separate ministry for micro enterprises for better focus and policy support. This is one of the crucial demands raised by the CIA which has potential to impact millions of entrepreneurs and the way smaller businesses operate. As the number suggests, 99% of the 63 million enterprises officially fall in the category of micro-enterprise based on investment and revenue criteria. However, the MSME Development Act, (2006) largely caters to the remaining one per cent enterprises that comprise of small and medium businesses. The micro-enterprise category itself is characterized by heterogeneity, fragmentation and informalization. If we refine categories further, another separate grouping of entrepreneurs and enterprises can be carved out, which we can call nano-entrepreneurs.

Find the detailed op-ed here

Evolving Ecosystem for Nano entrepreneurs

The ecosystem to accelerate the growth of nano and micro entrepreneurs has seen a progressing shift wherein some key support areas that have been delved into by various ecosystem members are legal & compliance, marketing, access to finance and mentorship. Within this ecosystem, various partnerships and innovative models have been established to achieve objectives such as less burdening legal and compliance measures, inching towards financial inclusion, better and affordable access to finance and marketing techniques for business growth.

Find the detailed op-ed here

Journey of a deAsra nano entrepreneur

Snehal Machile, a food entrepreneur, has been running her small business since 2018. After being faced with pandemic challenges such as higher expenditure for business needs, Snehal decided to become a part of the deAsra-Gromor loan initiative, from which the working capital availed further assisted her to not compromise on the quality of her products and also enabling her to keep the product pricing structure unchanged.

Find the detailed story here

Generating awareness around crucial government schemes for MSMEs

The Government of India introduces several schemes for the benefit of MSMEs. However, often MSME business owners are not aware of these schemes and thus lose out on benefiting from them. Government schemes for MSMEs have several advantages that business owners can benefit from such as:

• Provide a sense of security to the entrepreneurs
• Some schemes provide financial security to businesses and individuals
• Certain schemes provide technological support and guidance to individuals

deAsra’s platform makes it convenient and easy for small business owners to become aware of the several government schemes that MSMEs can apply for and can benefit from and further help the entrepreneurs to apply for it promptly with the necessary paperwork ready

Find the detailed blog here

Impact Report Study for Business Loan Readiness Program

deAsra conducted a study to access the insights around the design, implementation and experience of the Business Loan Readiness Program, a program aimed at building literacy and knowledge around fund raising and ensuring that entrepreneurs have the tools and resources available to receive funds from formal lending institutions, such as non-banking financial corporations and banks.

The study conducted involves:

• Understanding the experiences of all stakeholders involved in the program, and to gain from their more nuanced perspectives around the program’s design, effectiveness and impact.
• Qualitative assessment conducted via interviews with select entrepreneurs, the internal deAsra team, the financial experts, and one trainer.

Find the detailed report here