The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State’s social empowerment initiative ‘Unnathi’ for setting up a start-up city to support a wide range of ventures by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) communities.
The ‘Unnathi Start-up City’, to be developed in the State capital, will provide incubation facilities, and support for entrepreneurial ventures promoted by members of SC/ST communities in multiple sectors.
The MoU was signed between KSUM CEO Anoop Ambika and Prasanth Nair, special secretary, SC/ST and Backward Classes Development, in the presence of K. Radhakrishnan, Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes here on Friday.
Mr. Radhakrishnan said extending support to the members of the less privileged classes to successfully establish and run entrepreneurial ventures was a key factor in social and economic empowerment.
This initiative would not only improve their standard of living but also enhance the social standing of the beneficiaries. As part of the project, more SC/ST youth should be given a handholding to become entrepreneurs, he said.
The Minister said there were also a number of non-technological ventures where youth could set up enterprises and run them successfully. “For instance, the scope of value-addition of agriculture produce from tribal areas and their marketing should be explored. The infrastructure facilities in backward areas should be strengthened for entrepreneurial development,” he added.
A social empowerment initiative, Unnathi (Kerala Empowerment Society), formulates, promotes and implements projects for better social security and empowerment of the less privileged sections, especially for educational, professional, and entrepreneurial advancement of the SC/ST youth.
The agreement would enable Unnathi to develop an incubation centre at a 5000-sq.ft. space in its headquarters at Ambedkar Bhavan, Mannanthala here, besides conducting programmes with the support of KSUM in training employment and human resource management, Mr. Anoop Ambika said.
KSUM will extend support to Unnathi to develop a world class infrastructure with work spaces, high-speed internet connectivity, and other essential facilities for a productive work environment.
Start-ups having a KSUM unique ID, in which scheduled castes and scheduled tribes community members are major stakeholders (51% and above), will be the primary beneficiaries of the project. Ninety percent subsidy will be provided for start-ups in SC/ST category.
The pact will also facilitate unification, collaboration and aggregation of SC/ST entrepreneurs and cooperatives for better functioning, unified branding, marketing and sales, resulting in increased efficiency, and scope of business, through an aggregator model under the Unnathi umbrella for various verticals.
The collaboration also aims at organising activities and schemes that support livelihood development, employment or start-ups or businesses of SC ST community, identifying potential entrepreneurs among them, and supporting their start-ups to promote competent technology products and services through upskilling and technology adoption.
For achieving the aims, skill development and entrepreneurship development programmes, leadership workshops, mentorship support, investors meets, and other capacity building programmes will be conducted.
The agreement will help upgrade existing businesses and increase financial inclusion and credit facility for SC/ST entrepreneurs.
