When you come to Harishankar’s village of Asati in Niwari, Bundelkhand you are greeted by the freshly painted bright red walls of his shop. Sitting inside, Harishankar is hard at work designing the banners that he will hang outside. …

What does Empowerment mean to Inclusive Entrepreneurship? Inclusive entrepreneurship is “a phenomenon that is characterized by systemic change in which under-represented people are able to access entrepreneurship opportunities and secure livelihoods, thereby leading to enhanced social inclusion and sustainable economic growth”.(1) For Development Alternatives and its approach to inclusive entrepreneurship…

-The story of Ajay Prajapati A traditional clay potter, Ajay Kumar Prajapati had left Dhaurupur village, Mirzapur nine years ago as a 23-year-old, in search of better opportunities for his pottery craft and to support his family as the only breadwinner at the time. …

A mug can change your life! Sachin was a second year B.Tech graduate with aspirations to run his own business. He had received a personalised mug as a gift from a friend which fascinated him enough to make him realise there was no sublimation printing shop in Bundelkhand. The idea…

Ruby, of Chirgaon, Jhansi, was engaged in farming, and her husband owned a grocery store. Her life revolved around agriculture, but she always had an innate desire to stand out from the crowd. She and her husband together were able to earn just enough to sustain their family of three…

Neetu Devi is a resident of Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh. She worked as a daily wage agricultural labourer on a seasonal basis and had a brief stint in setting up a grocery shop but found little success. She heard about the GAVL- IFPE project in Barabanki through another entrepreneur associated with…

Jamuna Devi, a resident of Dabka village in Bhadohi, was engaged in supporting her husband in his textile designing work and taking care of her family until the pandemic engulfed her village. The Covid-19 pandemic moved her and made her realize the importance of entrepreneurship. She initially set up a…

The erstwhile region of drought-prone land and barren opportunities at the centre of India, Bundelkhand has benefited little from India’s top-down livelihood generation policies. The region itself is not defined by the state boundaries and is often caught up by the divergent schemes of the two state governments of Uttar…

Within global commentaries on development practice and the future of work, a lot is said about the drawbacks of technological and digital platforms, especially the inadequate access of the poor and marginalised to smartphones or computers and the lack of skills to use them. Additionally, practitioners argue that digital platforms…