Varanasi, May 04, 2023. Aavishkaar Foundation, a part of the Aavishkaar Group, hosted its Young Entrepreneurship Program at Utkarsh Auditorium in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on Friday, 21st April. This was the first initiative on their path towards achieving their objective of ‘Economic Entrepreneurship to Social Equity’. This was a pilor initiative designed to inculcate entrepreneurial curiosity amongst youth and to take steps toward a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Eastern UP. It witnessed participation from 1100 children from 10 Government Schools who designed and presented impactful and sustainable business plans. Four teams out of 98 were declared winners.
The four winning teams and their business ideas included Eco-friendly Sanitary Pads by Kasturba Mahila Vidhyapeeth Intermediate College (winner of Sushila Rai Award for Women in Entrepreneurship); Vehicle Repairing Business by Kashi Krishak Intercollege (winner of Chandrashekhar Azad Award for Innovation); Jai Ambe Bag Makers by Kalika Dham Intercollege (winner of Rani Lakshmi Bai Award for Leadership) and Wormi Compost by Subhadra Kumar Intercollege (winner of Veer Abdul Hamid Award for Rural Youth Entrepreneurship). The awards comprised of a trophy and cash reward of INR 75,000 each to the winning teams and a laptop to each participating member. The remaining 7 finalist teams received INR 10,000 each along with a laptop for every participant. Additional consolation awards were given to 20 teams at the school level for their enthusiastic participation.
Dr. Anita Singh, Principal, Kasturba Mahila Vidhyapeeth Intermediate College, Sewapuri said, “I am in this service from the past 25 years but I have come across such an intervention for the first time. This intervention will help the girls of my school to think about local problems and try and solve them. In the process they will become independent and be able to lead a better life”
Commenting on the initiative, Vineet Rai, Founder and Chairman, Aavishkaar Group said, “An Entrepreneurial Purvanchal can support India’s march towards $ 10 trillion economy and can contribute to the Global cause of Sustainable Development Goals. We at Aavishkaar Group and Foundation believe a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Eastern UP would be a huge support in transforming Uttar Pradesh into a $ 1 Trillion Economy as envisioned by the Chief Minister.”
Aavishkaar Foundation’s mission is to build a learning ecosystem that triggers entrepreneurial curiosity among youth in Uttar Pradesh. The Aavishkaar Group has an ambition to take this program to a million school children in Eastern UP. This program will cover colleges as well. Additionally, the Foundation intends to invest in 1000 entrepreneurs from Purvanchal over the next 5 years. The Foundation intends to bring its flagship ecosystem building initiative “Sankalp Forum” to Varanasi and Eastern UP.
