The state of Madhya Pradesh (MP) is located in the dead center of India and is home to some very poor remote tribal communities. I had the pleasure of spending two days touring around the villages with MBA students from the University of Illinois and meeting some of the women that work with Udyogini.
A micro-entrepreneur in her shop
To participate in Udyogini’s development program, the poorly educated and frequently illiterate women must attend a two to three month management training program and make a working capital investment of five thousand rupees ($111, quite a significant sum.) In return they receive a micro-franchise, which provides them with an income of one to two thousand rupees per month. The franchises consist of small retail stores that sell an array of goods and procure local commodities. The women franchise-owners sell the commodities to Udyogini-run regional centers at a profit. The retail stores are often the only providers of goods in the remote villages, which are only accessible via dirt roads too rough for any vehicle other than a horse-drawn carriage or a rugged SUV.
A group of new recruits receiving training
The micro-franchise development program, while effective, is not self-sustaining due to the lack of scale and scope. My work here in MP will focus on addressing the scope issue by analyzing various products and services that may be added to the micro-franchise value chain.
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