Entrepreneur Training

Yesterday I was at Dharwad for a training program we did for the micro entrepreneurs under the Entrepreneur Fund. Our micro entrepreneurs are again from the under served demographic, with some of them being first time entrepreneurs or ones who run really small enterprises like bandi vegetable sellers,  single machine tailors, road side petty shops and the like.

It started off as an experiment, because we knew that it was extremely difficult to get these entrepreneurs to take a day off work, as it meant one day less of earning, and it took all that effort from us to make it happen.

While the theme I picked for the kick off talk was 'Take Ownership', I did exactly the same for the training itself. And it really worked. We had a target of twelve when we started and had a participation of twenty :).

Sudhir, Prasanna and Dixit, with me in an animated moment

Our content trainer was Sudhir Kulkarni, a veteran at SELCO, and I'd heard it said that when he trains, people won't forget for life. It was ofcourse all in Kannada, as this was an entirely non English speaking audience.

Sudhir intently listening to a question from a woman participant. We actually had four women participants, and I was extra happy for that

It was really interesting to see their level of interest, their participation, their questions. Sudhir sure lived up to his reputation; he was good not just in content but also in how he was able to engage the audience.  

He had three clear concepts; Opportunity, Relationship Building and Investment, in terms of Energy and Effort, and I know that each of them went away with something learnt. This was a pilot, and I now know it's the first of many to come.