Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), the principal financial institution engaged in the promotion, financing and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), has rolled out various developmental measures for MSMEs celebrating the World MSME Day of June 27, 2021 in the form of a ‘Developmental Week’.
Under its project SAHAS, SIDBI has soft launched “Swavalamban Chair for MSME Solutions”, at Government Engineering College, Thrissur. The Chair shall have action research and inducing entrepreneurship culture as its core thrust. It is supported by Swavalamaban Resource Facility which has been set up in partnership with Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, United Kingdom. It shall bring product/process solutions to enterprises in the region, support youth under mentorship of professors to map the local pain points, shape their solutions/idea, test, validate and launch their entrepreneurial ventures. The Chair shall also foster inter-college learnings.
Shri Sivasubramanian Ramann, Chairman and Managing Director of SIDBI said, “Our role is to empower entrepreneurs and encourage entrepreneurship during these challenging times. Keeping this in mind, through the various initiatives, we are planning to support the enterprise development cycle comprising ideation, setting up, revive and thrive as also stepping up. On one hand we are working towards identifying more livelihood entrepreneurs and on the other hand we are taking steps to build their capacity for emerging stronger. With these measures fructifying, we hope to create a society with more job creators rather than job seekers.”
With an objective to handhold budding entrepreneurs, SIDBI has provided support to Confederation of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CIMSME) for setting up ‘Swavalamban Suvidha Kendra’. The Kendra shall address information asymmetry challenges and render responsive solutions to inquisitive youth, serve anxious enterprises facing Covid challenges, assist in Udyam registration and enable Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) to go for digital solutions like Udyamimitra portal, Standupmitra portal, PSB Loans in 59 minutes etc.
SIDBI has also felicitated Covid responsive MSEs and associations by sponsoring meals on their behalf through Akshay Patra Foundation for Covid impacted population. SIDBI has distributed 2.10 lakh meals during this Covid period. Also, to showcase the emerging entrepreneurs and job creators, SIDBI has, under its Mission 10000 Swavalambis initiative, documented their stories. These inspirational stories are aimed at shaping dreams of aspirational Bharat and help them walk the job creator journey.
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SIDBI has also entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ‘Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship’ to help MSMEs address their challenges faced during the Covid crisis. The broad themes covered under the MoU include expanding credit access, increasing formalization, building competitive clusters, and improving the legal framework for ease of doing business.
To identify entrepreneurial opportunities for migrant population impacted by Covid, rapid profiling in 11 states namely, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu has been carried out. In these states, SIDBI has setup Project Management Units based on the recommendations of the UK Sinha Committee on MSMEs. The inputs are expected to facilitate decisions on entrepreneurial ventures at local/regional levels.
