Prime Minister’s virtual meet calls upon women entrepreneurs to stay strong

Prime Minister Modi's credit support initiative empowers women entrepreneurs in Kozhikode, Kerala, with financial aid and encouragement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationwide outreach for credit support to disadvantaged sections via video conferencing turned out to be a clarion call for the backward segments in north Kerala to chin up with their unique ventures as budding or established entrepreneurs.

Over 100 women from Kozhikode and neighbouring districts turned up for the online meet at the collectorate conference hall on March 12 (Wednesday). The meeting also witnessed the disbursement of financial aid worth ₹26 crore to shortlisted beneficiaries by District Collector Snehil Kumar Singh.

P.B. Bidula, a 44-year old clay art and craft entrepreneur from Elathoor, was one of the prominent women entrepreneurs who got an invitation to the event that drew the online participation of hundreds of invited craftspersons and entrepreneurs from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat. She turned up for the programme with the confidence she gained through a face-to-face interactive meeting with Mr. Modi during an artisans’ meet in New Delhi.

“I must say that artisans in India are the luckiest persons as the credit support schemes of the Union government has started reaching beneficiaries at the grassroots level with minimal formalities. We should say that all technicalities have been got rid of to a great extent to support poor entrepreneurs,” said Ms. Bidula who has been in the field of arts and crafts after her graduation in commerce for over 20 years.

This woman entrepreneur who has already organised over 15 craft exhibitions with the support of the National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation and owns an exclusive craft shop to display and market her products in the city pointed out that schemes like ASHA (Assistance Scheme for Handicraft Artisans) by the Department of Industries had equally lent a hand to the emerging women entrepreneurs in the sector.

“The Prime Minister’s programme was interesting as it began with the success story of a man named Narendra Sen from Indore. Though the selected entrepreneurs from other States got the opportunity to speak out their success story, we didn’t get a chance because of the time constraints. I had been earlier asked to prepare for an interaction which was later suspended owing to the time limitations,” says Ms. Bidula. However, she believes the programme has been a success as all participants, mostly Kudumbasree entrepreneurs, managed to listen to a number of success stories applauded by the Prime Minister.

Kudumbashree officials said the financial assistance distributed on Wednesday would come to the support of 11 Community Development Societies in the district. Around 4,500 neighbourhood group members would be the beneficiaries of the assistance at various phases. According to them, Ayushman cards were also distributed to 11 members to mark the virtual interaction in the evening that witnessed the official launch of Pradhan Mantri Samajik Utthan Eyam Rozgar Adharit Jankalyan (PM-SURAJ) national portal.