Micro & Social Entrepreneurship Development through digital inclusion & collaboration

SAP’s enduring purpose is to help the world run better and improve people’s lives. SAP India’s flagship initiative Code Unnati strives to bring it to life by powering (a) opportunities through digital inclusion and (b) best run social enterprises, thereby fuelling inclusive development.

Social Entrepreneurship is a powerful instrument which enables women & men to generate jobs, address challenges faced by their communities through innovation, and drive inclusive growth, gender equality, and sustainable development. Impact and effectiveness are the two critical enablers of SAP Code Unnati to bring in a fundamental paradigm shift in place.

With the above vision in view, SAP Labs India collaborates with the United Nations Development Programme in India, to power the best run social enterprises. The partnership aims at empowering the women through #DigitalInclusion and #EntrepreneurshipDevelopment with the objective of fostering economic development by increasing #sustainable income and livelihood opportunities through promotion of rural women-owned microenterprises.

With this collaboration, we aim to identify limitations and shortcomings of the livelihood generating opportunities and propel solutions to tackle some of the most uphill implementation challenges. The baseline study, in collaboration with Insights Development Consulting Group (IDCG), UNDP and SAP, it was learnt that the opportunity for entrepreneurial interventions and the existing lack of awareness about the skills required to access them.

SAP Labs India empowered run women-led social enterprises by training 593 women through Entrepreneurship Awareness Programs (EAPs) and identifying 85 Women Network Products for scale-up and support in Karnataka. The endeavour will go on with Entrepreneurship Development Initiative (EDP) and other capacity building agenda for women entrepreneurs. Code Unnati has also drafted a framework to scope out the engagement and associated deliverables. The key focuses are 21st-century skills, entrepreneurship training, mentoring, and handholding support programme for youth and women in Karnataka.

The women community cadre and the Unnati Sakhis, women mentors, who train further women entrepreneurs in the communities, have developed a training content titled ’21st Century Skills Framework and Curriculum’ in Kannada to ensure the continued delivery of training sessions for online mediums even during the pandemic, in alignment with Government of Karnataka. Our outreach and awareness programmes are intended to reach thousands of women and youth – the two proposed target groups, to support them to explore the new opportunities and possibilities in skilling.

To commemorate the Micro-, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises Day on 27th June 2021, SAP Labs India and UNDP in India are co-hosting multiple capacity building workshops to unlock the potential of young women entrepreneurs in Karnataka from 25th of June and onwards. We engage with multiple micro and nano-women entrepreneurs to learn from their side of the story – their unique perspectives, experiences, and opportunities, and to promote them. The topics include:

·      Women Business Leaders – Sharing Successes and Learning (28th June)

·      Scaling Up the Women-led Start up (28th June)

·      How backyard poultry empowers Karnataka’s rural women (29th June)

During the event we will hear from the micro-& nano female entrepreneurs and ecosystem actors from Karnataka who will share their first-hand experiences on the higher barriers that they face, the multiplier effects of investing in women entrepreneurs, and the actions that are needed to make entrepreneurship ecosystems more inclusive. Please join us as we look forward to seeing you there!

The post COVID-19 situation demands augmenting the mainstream economic opportunities. And social & micro-entrepreneurship will be one of ways to achieve it. Stay tuned to learn about resilient journey and stories of women across Karnataka under SAP Unnati Biz Sakhi Social Entrepreneurship programme.