August Newsletter

FOREWORD

Three founders, four employees, three advisors, one consultant, two interns- clearly our tribe is growing. Our all-hands meetings are intense marathon affairs, hustling to be agile and in execution mode and yet the need to stop and iterate as we learn along the way. Our network of partners is growing, partners who have been generous in sharing knowledge, time and effort. In the next couple months we are set to launch reports, get a grand challenge going and explore place models focused on our mission of catalyzing Mass Entrepreneurship.

Last month we launched a study on urban women homepreneurs. GAME, in collaboration with ZS Associates India Pvt. Ltd. as the knowledge partner, undertook a targeted study on urban women homepreneurs, in order to get a better understanding of the segment, and to inform collaboration and solutioning to help drive business growth. We probed 3 areas in particular a) What was the Motivation behind starting the business b) What challenges did they face c) What is the support sought. Women in India own and run far fewer businesses than in other countries. In addition, the female labour force participation rate in India is now amongst the lowest in the world, having slipped dramatically in the last 20 years to ~23% in 2018 as per World Bank data, with urban areas being lower that rural. Socio-cultural pressures and home care duties have resulted in a significant proportion of young women being out of the labour force, yet they are well positioned to spend a part of their day on a home-based nano-enterprise. These enterprises can flourish when women have recourse to the right support and interventions. The study findings have been shared below in the “Insights” section in this month’s Newsletter.

We also have an interesting viewpoint from our guest columnist, Uthara Narayanan, Chief Changemaker and Managing Trustee, Buzz India.

Team GAME

GUEST COLUMN

Everyone an entrepreneur

by Uthara Narayan,
Chief Changemaker and Managing Trustee, Buzz India

Geeta had to quit her job at a garment factory when her mother could not manage taking care of her special needs child at home. Her mother took up a job in the garment factory in Geeta’s place to ensure the income comes in. Each time Geeta’s husband, who also worked at the garment factory, took off from work to take their child to the hospital, he lost the day’s wages. It was also not easy to manage the displeasure of his superiors for his absence. After Geeta attended a capacity building programme run by Buzz Women, she gained the courage to start a tailoring businessalong with her husband. She rented the shop next door to her house and started earning enough to make ends meet. She works in the shop early mornings and late nights when her husband and mother take care of her child. And during the day she teaches other women to sew while her child is next to her. She told me, ‘Rather than moping over what happened to my child, I decided it's time to move on; to take charge and do something with my life.’

Studies show that only 5% of the world's population 1 are entrepreneurs. The rest of the population prefers working for someone else or be part of the gig economy.

There is research that establishes that many underdeveloped countries have high rates of entrepreneurs due to lack of other opportunities 2. These are mainly necessity entrepreneurs because they have no better or no other choice to avoid unemployment 3. Read More

GAME UPDATE

Team ANDE and Team GAME meet to cement a growing association. Team ANDE: Randall Kempner, Sucharita Kamath, Saipriya Salla Team GAME: Madan Padaki, Priyadeep Sinha, Santanu Chari, Vidya Chandy and Sandhya Thukaram

Team GAME participated in the Microsoft OneWeek Hackathon, the largest private hackathon in the world held on 22nd and 23rd July in Hyderabad. Hacking to solve real-world challenges through technology.

Team GAME met with a group of young volunteers who are “GAME ambassadors” helping us discover entrepreneurs and tell their stories to make Mass Entrepreneurship Aspirational.

FACEBOOK DIARIES

Tura Local

Facebook facilitated a two day digital marketing workshop (to help us create our aspirational campaigns) for team GAME and a couple of our partners like Reap Benefit, Udhyam Learning Foundation and 1 Bridge

INSIGHTS

Urban Homepreneurs Primary Research in Pune – presented by GAME and ZS Associates

Motivation, challenges, support needed for urban women homepreneurs.

IN THE NEWS

NITI Aayog partners with WhatsApp to promote women entrepreneurs

Read More

GAME

w: http://massentrepreneurship.org

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