Hope in turbulent times: My interaction with grassroot entrepreneurs from Jammu & Kashmir

Got an opportunity to be one of the first person to take a formal session and kickstart the mentorship and investment readiness initiative for ~20 startups from Jammu & Kashmir focusing on Education, healthcare, livelihood, employability, agriculture etc. I was scheduled to take a two-day session on 5-6th August 2019 but could not go due to obvious reasons. However, was keen to be back as soon as possible but the wait took ~7 months.  But,it was worth every moment of wait.

Entrepreneurship is something which we at ALSiSAR Impact/ASCo are passionate about and are assisting irrespective of physical boundaries, religion or strata of society for 11+ years in SouthAsia. We were one of the first fully focused pathbreaking transaction advisory services in impact investing and social enterprise landscape from Yr 2008 onwards in SouthAsia . The initial phases of impact investing made us do some innovative works in deep hinterlands, rural geographies, difficult areas, social business models and committed entrepreneurs.

For many entrepreneurs I interacted, had their business tied up with Technology and Internet and post August 5th, there was no internet….. And to my surprise, entrepreneurship makes you be more resilient and innovate. They survived albeit in a lesser form. And that’s where the next phase of entrepreneurial ecosystem support needs to start – the amazing entrepreneurs that I interacted with, need support in mentorship, investment, professional advise and time. No, they don’t want people to sit in their cosy offices and preach them via concall or video presentations but expect people to come, interact and participate in their growth ‘on ground’ in J&K. There has been insufficient initiative from so called investment and civil society to provide an ecosystem of investment readiness for these local entrepreneurs.

Thanks to Irtif Lone and his amazing team from JKEDI to make it possible. And a special mention to Prof Satyajit Mazumdar, TISS, who did the initial introduction and encouraged me to take this up previous year. 

Brief description of the amazing entrepreneurs and their initiative included:

-         An entrepreneurial startup working on solving problem of delivery of products from microentrepreneurs (mostly women) in Srinagar to other part of J&K and outside. They are already having ~200 women microentrepreneurs being supported. They have innovated to have both on-line and off-line logistics solution to further the challenge of bridging demand and supply;

-         An entrepreneurial startup solving the problem of upskilling for people with low educational/technical access along with agricultural produce advisory. Their efforts are towards increasing employability for people from boP segment: Area of work is in Srinagar, Jammu etc. They have already done significant work on ground to upskill hundreds of people in the geography;

-         A startup working on smart city project primarily for waste management, mobility challenges in small to mid size cities (such as Poonch, Jammu, Pahalgam etc) using machine learning and other tools;

-         An agriTech startup working on to assist farmers increase their farmhold income from Srinagar and nearby geography. It is started by a third generation farmer;

-         A healthcare startup focusing on rare disease that affects more in certain ethnic groups. They want to assist healthcare professionals / institutions to diagnose rare and genetic conditions. Active in J&K, NCR.  

-         A startup focusing on citizen engagement and identity assistance with initiative such as KYC to govt schemes to commercial solutions for problems pertaining to travel, bill payments and others. Right now, active in Srinagar and nearby geographies

-         An interesting startup that want to use design as a solution for heritage shops/ spaces to attract more footfall. Their aim is to bridge the gap by bringing a wide range of professional design and technology tools to the small businesses in the unorganised markets. They are HQ in Jammu.

-         EduTech startup focusing on providing education/ content access to students from smaller towns or villages primarily from marginalised families. This can become more wider in terms of content regarding skill development/ leadership training etc. They are HQ in Baramulla

-         A startups focused on travel/tourism that aims to simplify traveller experiences with real time and authentic data/ research. Their aim is to make travelling simpler and frugal at the same time making local ecosystem thrive due to authentic information. They are HQ in Anantnag

As Mahatma Gandhi said : “Be the change you wish to see in the world”…And Entrepreneurs show the hope that we may desire for to be a better society. Let’s join our hands together and show solidarity towards them and… let’s meet/ encourage them in person soon.   

Regards,

Anuj Sharma | ALSiSAR Impact