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.

We build socially relevant enterprise solutions for local economic development and job creation. Over the last two decades, DA has facilitated the development of 8,500 micro enterprises creating over 50,000 jobs. The enterprise models cater to sectors that create livelihood opportunities (agriculture, rural services); enhance quality of life (water and energy-based); and promote environmental sustainability (green building materials and waste). These solutions are contemporary in nature and responsive to the dynamic nature of the market. Our key programme areas include (i) Entrepreneurship Development that unleash entrepreneurial energies and build positive ecosystems (ii) Cluster Development for strengthening collectives of entrepreneurs, farmers, and artisans (iii) Business Model Incubation to validate new social enterprise models. In order to serve the growing aspirations of new and existing entrepreneurs, we have incubated a special purpose vehicle – Indian Micro Enterprises Development Foundation (IMEDF). It is an empaneled Nodal Agency for implementation of the SFURTI Program of the Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, Government of India.