Governor honours village entrepreneurs

PUNE: Vikas Kumbharkar of the Kumbharwalan village near Pune was presented the first prize in the Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust’s (BYST) and GuinnessUDV’s ‘Walk your dreams’ (WYD) contest by Maharashtra governor Mohammed Fazal here on Wednesday.
The WYD contest was initiated in 106 villages of Purandar taluka a few months ago to identify budding entrepreneurs with innovative ideas for rural-based micro-enterprises.Three other budding entrepreneurs — Ravindra Waghmare (second prize) and Saroja Rokde and Asha Jadhav (joint third prize) — were give the awards for generating innovative business ideas.
Kumbharkar plans to start a cashewnut processing business in his village. The BYST and GuinnessUDV’s ‘Keep Walking Fund’ will help Vikas purchase raw material and also provide him with guidance on launching his enterprise.
He plans to employ 25 people and hopes export his products. Likewise, Waghmare has planned to start a mobile library, Rokde, a cashewnut processing business and Jadhav, a pulses-processing business.
BYST, an NGO, has tied with the industry to provide loans worth Rs 50,000 and mentorship to deserving, underprivileged youth of the country. So far, a total of 900 enterprises have been supported by BYST in the country.
Five per cent of these enterprises have an annual turnover of Rs 10 lakh, while one entrepreneur has even become a ‘crorepati’. The function was attended by chairman, board trustees, BYST, Rahul Bajaj, MP Kirit Somaiya, GuinnessUDV MD, Amar Raj Singh and BYST founder Lakshmi Venkatesan.