Jobs We Create
Monograph: The power of entrepreneurship
Click here to read Jobs We Create
India’s impressive growth trajectory has not translated into a corresponding increase in jobs. For every 12 million Indians who join the workforce each year, less than 1 million are able to find meaningful, dignified and adequately remunerative work in the formal economy; the rest struggle in situations of obvious unemployment or disguised under-employment.
Micro-enterprises could play an instrumental role in addressing this challenge as they create local jobs in large numbers. Employing 80 million of India’s workforce, any impetus to this sector will have a significant consequential effect on economic resilience and social well-being. India needs to harness the power of micro-enterprise. Entrepreneurial attitudes and resourcefulness run deep in India — from the busiest streets of Mumbai to the remotest villages of poverty stricken regions in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. People’s strengths and their initiatives are however, stifled by a complex set of social and economic factors. Very few are able to set up entrepreneurial ventures. Age-old constraints imposed by social norms and lack of access to support services prevent potential entrepreneurs from taking simple steps that would transform their lives. Their inability to do so, in turn, means that no new jobs are created.
Work 4 Progress was born out of the need for a multi-faceted and innovative approach to creating systemic solutions that foster entrepreneurship — not only creating enterprises in the tens of thousands but more importantly, enabling them to ‘create’ jobs — jobs ‘we’ want.
Intensive interaction has taken place with a large number of existing and potential enterpreneurs in over 40 villages of Uttar Pradesh. The Work 4 Progress platform is adopting an operational methodology based on getting stakeholders involved in: Dialogue, Co-creation, Prototyping and Learning — critical elements of a robust, interactive, and iterative innovation process. In the past few months, we have conducted interviews and discussions and also used platforms such as the community radio to launch a reality competition for entrepreneurs called Kaun Banega Business Leader, for which we received 800 applications with ideas for new businesses which they would like to start. The deep dive that Work4Progress partners have made into the rural economy confirms both the magnitude and complexity of the challenge. And yet, we go forward with hope and a large measure of confidence; built up through our interactions with individuals and community groups, officials, businesspersons, facilitating organizations, innovators and analysts. We present those insights and experience to you.
Prelude of Jobs We Create by Shrashtant Patara, Senior Vice President, Development Alternatives Group
