The Telangana State Scheduled Tribes Co-operative Finance Corporation Ltd. (TRICOR) has initiated a collaborative effort to promote entrepreneurship among tribal women in partnership with WE Hub, the Telangana government’s initiative for women entrepreneurs, in Bhadrachalam Agency.
The TRICOR has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with WE Hub on the occasion of the International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples in Hyderabad, on August 9, to implement this collaborative initiative in the limits of the three Integrated Tribal Development Agencies (ITDAs) in Bhadrachalam, Eturunagaram and Utnoor in the State, TRICOR sources said.
The TRICOR has been tasked with identification and selection of entrepreneurs, leveraging the existing framework for institutional finance and extending logistic support.
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As per the MoU, the We Hub will implement the key tasks such as capacity building of entrepreneurs, help them secure market linkages, engage sector-specific mentors and provide them exposure visits besides assisting the entrepreneurs in creating detailed project reports and securing credit linkages, sources added.
Orientation session
An orientation session was recently organised jointly by the TRICOR and the WE Hub in Bhadrachalam as part of this joint initiative.
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As many as 39 tribal women, including several prospective entrepreneurs and organisers of the self-employment units, participated in the interactive session.
TRICOR deputy general manager K. Shankar Rao, WE Hub vice-chairman K. Shakuntala, and others interacted with the participants.
The speakers outlined the objectives of the joint initiative and elicited the views of the participants on the sectors of entrepreneurship of their interest, their training and skill development needs.
Food processing
Several participants reportedly evinced keen interest in setting up food processing units, pickle, chikki (sweet made of groundnut and jaggery), traditional snacks made of mahua (ippa) flower, eco-friendly paper making cottage industries and sanitary napkin manufacturing units and vegetable cultivation, among others.
Efforts are on to support the existing self-employment units being run by tribal women in scaling up their businesses and encourage prospective entrepreneurs among tribal women to set up new units to achieve financial self-reliance and boost local economy, said Mr. Shankar Rao.
The joint initiative launched under the aegis of Tribal Welfare Commissioner and TRICOR Managing Director Christina Z. Chongthu will help identify and nurture entrepreneurial skills among tribal women in the ITDAs areas, he noted.