HESCO

4/18/2012

WISE INITIATIVE
Under the guidance of Dr Anil Joshi

Project Mentor:
Er. Pankaj Kumar

Submitted by:
Abhineet Rawat Nishank Sethi Rashi Ahuja

Contents
Acknowledgement ............................................................................2 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..............................................................5 1 HESCO Initiatives...........................................................................6 2 Organization of communities .........................................................9 3 WISE Effort 3.1 ABOUT WISE..........................................................................10 3.2 WISE Bank................................................................................11 3.3 Success Stories..........................................................................12 4. Organizational Structure................................................................14 5 Beyond Training and Technology: WISE 5.1 Objective, scope and Methodology............................................16 5.2 Current Scenario.........................................................................18 5.3 Future Prospects: 5.3.1 Alternative 1: Self Expansion..................................................22 5.3.2 Alternative 2: Partnership with Govt. And Private rural focused organisations............................................................................24 5.3.3 Alternative 3: Partnering with Local Bakeries........................26 5.3.4 Alternative 4: Contract Farming..............................................27 5.4 SWOT analysis...........................................................................30 6 Other contributions..........................................................................31
2

Acknowledgement
We would like to express gratitude towards Dr. M.L. Shrikant (Hon. Dean, SPJIMR) for giving us this great learning opportunity through relevant social projects under Development of Corporate Citizenship (DOCC) initiative. We are highly thankful and obliged to Dr. Anil Joshi, head of HESCO for offering us this excellent opportunity to work with his organization on this project, and for the precious time he spent with us offering his insights into needs and aspects for future leadership and teaching us important values of life that well always cherish. Also our thanks to our project director, Dr Rakesh Negi for being patient with us and motivating us throughout the project. This project would not have been possible without the support of Dr Kiran Negi, Head of WISE initiative who provided us with invaluable inputs to guide us through the study and analysis of current standing and future prospects of WISE. We would also like to thank our mentors Er. Pankaj Kumar and Dr Himani joshi , for extending warmth and support during our endeavours. Mr Pankaj helped a great deal in organizing interactions with the HESCO members and arranging for relevant field visits and also making our stay comfortable at HESCO. We also thank the rest of the HESCO team at Shuklapur, Dehradun. We thank WISE beneficiaries Mr Triloknath bisht and his wife Kala bisht for giving us key insights into the operations of not only their unit ,their long association with Hesco, contribution towards achieving the vision of HESCO and also functioning of other players. We would also like to extend our gratitude to Prof. Malay Krishna for his constant guidance and taking time to visit our NGO to offer invaluable insights leading to the overall success of our project. Lastly, we would like to thank Ms. Nirja Mattoo and the rest of the DOCC Committee who worked really hard to provide us this experience of a lifetime and get truly sensitised. We would also like to thank all others who have directly or indirectly been a part of this project and have helped us in its successful completion.

INTRODUCTION
HESCO (Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organization) was formed in 1979 by Dr. Anil Joshi who felt strongly over the rapid deterioration of the Himalayas. The group was formally registered under the firms and societies Registration Act (1960) in 1983 and under FCRA in the year 1991 to ease the formalities required by many associating agencies. HESCO in its essence is truly rural as it derives inspiration from the villages and devises solutions for their problems. It helps them to focus on their economic and development needs and encourages them to tap local resources that open up new avenues to self- reliance. For the last 28 years, Dr. Anil Joshi and his team members of HESCO have been applying knowledge of the environmental sciences and simple technologies to bring consistent development to the rural villages of the Himalayas. One of the early objectives of the organization was to address the loss of community control over bio-mass which led to the economic problems of the villages in the hills of India. While only twelve percent of the available land was cultivatable, mismanagement of local vegetation had further depleted agricultural yields. Little or no effort had been made to develop uses for vast numbers of unutilized plants. However, Dr. Anil and his team devised methods of plant use that spawned a wide range of new developmental initiatives in more than 46 villages. By finding consumption and other patterns of usage for weeds, remarkable changes were brought about. Previous destructive land use patterns changed, natural catastrophes averted, rural electrification increased, sustainable cottage industries developed and, most importantly, villagers began to have a greater sense of ownership and control over new, rural technologies. HESCO now focuses on the concept of matching low-cost technologies with natural resources to encourage decentralized, rural development. It provides villagers with information and training in technologies gathered from local wisdom that can be sustained by local resources to address local needs. The team of professionals works closely with the villagers, focusing on their economic and developmental needs and tapping into their local resource
4

strengths to encourage activities that will open new avenues to self-reliance. Marketing and distribution are managed and controlled by local leadership.

About Dr. Anil Joshi Dr. Joshi quit his comfortable job as a Reader in the Government P.G. College, and plunged himself whole-heartedly into research and development work for the village people of the Himalayas. He formed HESCO, and concentrated on need-based science and technology developments, and their application for the mountain regions. The development of local resources, upgradation of local wisdom, and local markets has been his focal approach. His major contribution has been to bring back neglected watermills of 5,000 villages with new version by upgrading the traditional system. Economic and social changes of the villages after mills revival have brought revolution in many states like J&K, HP and Uttarakhand. For the same he was awarded the Padma Shree Award in 2006. His Vision Developing a viable, successful and a sustainable model for rural development in India giving due consideration to environmental protection and economic independence. He propagates the practice of Shridan i.e. each village that is made self-sustained through support should in turn adopt and contribute towards development of another village in their vicinity. Mission Creating model communities that are empowered through low cost local resource based technologies; Ensure awareness about local resources and create opportunities for economic decentralisation to prevent migration of youth from rural and hilly areas; collaboration with schools and corporate houses for sensitization of need for new measure of economic growth Gross Environmental Product (GEP); Offer training to rural women to promote entrepreneurship and facilitating their business growth.

Executive Summary
HESCO located in the Shuklapur p/o Ambiwala, Premnagar, Uttrakhand is headed by Dr Anil joshi who believes the campus area can be categorised into four systems namely chinta, chintan,chetanya and chita. The campus comprises of models for various measures adopted across villages like the watermill which was operationalised in nearly 100 villages across India; solar technologies; a swiss beehouse developed to impart improved bee-keeping practices to enhance productivity; Wise processing unit where training is provided in various value addition activities and the same are pursued by entrepreneurs and also samples of products of various local entrepreneurs are displayed for informing and procuring orders from visitors to the organization; Research centre for watershed and spring recharging project undertaken in collaboration with BARC; and a temple. There has been steady rise in unemployment in and migration from rural areas especially in the hilly regions but this project highlights the initiatives undertaken to create awareness about and utilization of the local resources and local entrepreneurship to promote self-employment and contribute towards consistent rural development. Our project is divided into three major parts covering the several initiatives by the organization, Wise an integral part of the rural economic independence mission, its current scenario and proposed alternatives for addressing the challenges faced. The project planned to organize better marketing efforts for the WISE products and identify alternative means of distribution to local and upmarket areas creating sustained demand for the products and also covers measures for gradual and aggressive scaling up of the WISE entrepreneurial operations for better future prospects to existing entrepreneurs and inspiring potential entrepreneurs to benefit through WISE.
6

HESCO INITIATIVES:
Reviving Eco-friendly Water Based Rural Entrepreneurship: This initiative is concerned with setting up and upgradation of watermills in remote areas to provide multitude of services like generation of clean energy, Flour grinding, rice dehusking, cotton combing etc. Thus it not only helps in generating revenue through utilization of local skills and resources but also contributes to the cause of global warming through significantly lower carbon emissions. A rough estimate reveal that each mill cut 1 kg of carbon per hour annually emission annually and if one calculates this for the total number of present and the future number of mills, the figures will be quite substantial.

Strategic Spring Recharging Using Isotope Hydro geochemical techniques: Through community effort, several villages today have benefitted by undertaking commercial cultivation of vegetables and fisheries made possible through water supply due to recharging of springs. The process involved reviving of catchment areas through installation of bunds and check dams. These catchments were identified based on the isotopic studies conducted in collaboration with Bhabha Atomic Research center. The research period lasted 24 months and several treatments each costing around Rs 50-80000 resulted in increased spring discharges.

Shrine Offerings: Income generation through Bio-resource applications: This involves partnership with Shrines at char-dham to purchase offerings made by local people utilizing abundant bio-resources in the region.

Besides laddus, training was provided to local people in other bio-resource applications: BIO-Resource AROMATIC PLANTS FIBRE PLANTS RINGAL FRUITS FLOWERS WOOD MISCELLANEOUS Applications dhoopbatti, agarbatti, essence Carpets, mats, decor baskets, mats, decor, incense sticks squash, jam, jelly, pickle, offerings garlands, bouquets, perfumes, incense, essence, squash, offerings idols, artefacts : vermilion, dyes, textile, honey etc.

Assistance for improved Agricultural Practices: This involves efforts towards identification of location specific suitable crops; distribution of seeds of new varieties of crops to farmers; training in practices to improve productivity. Also crops that help sustain ecological functioning are popularised through demonstrations regarding their nutritional value and value-addition activities to offer varieties to the consumers. For instance promotion of Strawberry farming techniques and value addition through processing into squash and jams in many Himalayan states. Other associated practices include Horticulture practices comprising collection and distribution of suitable planting materials; Trainings on care of orchard; fisheries through pond maintenance, promotion of bee-keeping, goatry among youth belonging to landless families. Establishment of Technology Business Incubators (TBI) for Exservicemen in Uttarakhand: In order to reduce the migration among ex-service men from hilly areas in search of job opportunities a TBI programme was undertaken with following major features: Resource based business planning and training Organizing technology training and management Sourcing financial assistance and agencies for doing business like NABARD. Work place for training and trials. Common facility centre for commercialisation and workshop. About 90 Ex-servicemen have benefitted directly so far and have successfully developed market intelligence through trainings and knowledge sharing. Engaging children and disseminating Local wisdom: Bachcho ka Akhbar was started to promote learning, leisure by apprising them of local resources and inspiring in them entrepreneurial spirits besides general knowledge, news, articles and jokes. The goal was to incorporate resource based literature for children in rural areas.
9

Organization of Communities In order to achieve its objective of empowerment of rural communities, HESCO engaged in work with various trade based communities. The need was not only creating awareness about local resources and training to make products using these resources but also to enable these communities to organize themselves. Such organization of communities was believed to help them in not only identifying various internal problems but also raise their concerns on various issues they face. This will also accord a socio-political and economic strength to these trading communities and improve their lot. Following is the list of the communities and the organizations based on different resources formed through HESCOs initiative.

SNO. 1 2 3

Community Rudia Artisans Horticulture

Resource Ringal Local Resource Fruits

Name of the Organization Ringal Sangthan Kaarigar Uttaranchal Fruit Product Association (UFPA) Water Miller Association Kisan Bank

Members 200 550 54

Office Pakhi, Chamoli Tehri Dehradun

Water Millers Water Mill

450

Gadora Chamoli Dehradun

Farmers

Farm Produce Different Resources

500

Women Entrepreneur

Women Initiative for Self Employment

Dehradun

10

WISE Women Initiative for Self Employment

Note: This is the initiative that we have chosen to work on. With the idea of holistic and fair development at heart, a journey called Womens Initiatives for Self Employment (WISE) was undertaken to inspire the concept of women as entrepreneurs. It focuses on helping women overcome the pressures of social construction and explore their unutilized potential to fulfil their dreams of independence and empowerment. Seeing the sparks of knowledge and wisdom in women, Wise undertook the endeavour to develop low cost, appropriate, location specific, easily adopted technologies which will provide them self-employment and respect in society. To achieve this, WISE follows a three-pronged approach, which focuses on: Identifying local resources and providing training to the women based on these resources Providing a platform for learning such that the benefits are realized not just in material terms but also by way of individual growth Encouraging the women to initiate work employment propel them towards self-

Interestingly WISE pre-empted the likelihood of saturation in the market because of several women setting up enterprises for similar products. Thus given the feasibility of their particular environment, women have been trained in multitude of skills, such as value addition of agriculture and horticulture produce, preparing various articles using aromatic plants and locally extracted fibre, Namkeen preparation, beekeeping along with trainings in natural dyes and organic cultivation to develop eco-friendly products. Further Women organized themselves under the vision of WISE to actively address the needs and limitations by defining and implementing the objectives: To assist in marketing women produce To develop direct linkages between entrepreneurs and buyers To provide feedback for quality improvements to entrepreneurs To dovetail the entrepreneurs with Governments ongoing schemes

11

 To offer a common platform to women entrepreneurs At present, weekly meetings are held. WISE also serves as an information pool by assisting women with details about product design, local market, refresher courses etc. Accomplishments: 1. Training to tribal carpet weavers in better technologies for loom improvement and design to make their carpets more competitive in the market. 2. Mobilizing and empowering communities near Vaishno devi temple to engage in Prasad preparation using the local crops. Around 450 women were trained and collaboration was made with the Shrine board. 3. Improvement in traditional bee-hives practices which increased production by almost three times. The idea of Latana mud hives for attracting bees was implemented. 4. Collaboration with Border Roads Organization (BRO) to successfully stabilize the hill slopes extending from kotdwar to Pauri garhwal by plantation of various fast growing plant species. 5. Mass awareness programmes to train rural women in improved agricultural practices and suggested changes in tools to better suit women 6. Imparting training on technology to make products from Ringal to the Rudias community and marketing of their produce. 7. Low cost bakery has been set up and around 200 women have been trained to run a nutri-bakery. Wise Bank WISE helps women entrepreneurs by granting loan out of the funds collected from them. The loaning process is simple with no separate interest obligations instead recipient women have to pay Rs. 100/- every six months till the loan is paid back. Advance cheques are collected from women to ensure repayment. As of September 2011, more than 400 women were accessing financial services through WISE Bank. This represented more than 12 fold growth in beneficiaries from the 30 members when the bank was instituted in September 2006. The banks services are now offered to women in areas such as Mehuwala, Shuklapur, Garhi, Jatowala, Fatehpur and Ratanpur-Nayagaon.
12

Success Stories

Ruksana 25 years Mehuwala, Dehradun

Associated with WISE for about 7 years, Ruksana now runs an appliance repair shop of her own where she repairs household items such as torches, umbrellas, pressure cookers, etc. Ruksana also picked up tie and dye, block-printing and candle making skills through WISE.

Besides empowering Ruksana financially, her repair services were also an advantage for nearby households where women had to earlier rely on unknown men to repair these goods. Apart from above, she also runs an Aanganwadi at home where she and her sister teach small kids and earn an additional Rs. 1,250 per month. She plans to move to Delhi post her marriage and is committed to up skilling womenfolk there as well and getting them associated with WISE.

13

Kala Bisht 35 years Ambivala, Dehradun

Associated with HESCO and WISE for more than 10 years now, she received initial training in fruit preservation and processing. Starting out by selling mango pickles and chutney, which were appreciated in the local market, she showed great interest which was reciprocated by WISE through continuous training to up skill her. WISE also sent her for a training program in Mysore. Today I prepare jams, jellies, fruit juices, pickles and chutneys from various locally available fruits such as mangoes, guavas and strawberries. My husband has actively supported me in this endeavour. Often there are fairs and melas where we sell our products and receive more orders. Kala Bisht Besides operating her own fruit processing unit, she also operates a bee home and plant nursery.

Kala Bisht, and her husband, are today successful entrepreneurs, not only selling their own produce but also aiding about 750 odd farmers in the region.

As many as 2028 women in Uttarakhand, J&K, and Himachal Pradesh are currently benefiting from WISE initiative.

14

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Like most other NGOs the organizational structure at HESCO is rather not hierarchical as different people take up responsibilities for different initiatives. However, there are different designations under which people work that have been arranged in the order of seniority as shown in the diagram. However, this is not necessarily the reporting matrix.
Founder/ Director Principal Scientist Ayurvedacharya Senior Scientist Scientist Dr. Anil P. Joshi Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Dr. Kiran Negi Dr. B.D. Maithani Mr. Vinod Khati Dr. Sudha Sharma, Mrs. Himani Purohit, Miss Richa Chandola Er. Manoj Joshi Er. Pankaj Kumar Mr. S.S. Rawat, Mr. Prem Khandelwal Mr. Manmohan Negi, Mrs. Poonam Rawat Mr. Manish Rathore Mr. Dinesh Rana, Mrs. Laxmi Rawat, Mrs. Subhadra Devi, Mrs. Deepa Uniyal, Mr. Satyapal Ramola, Mrs. Anuradha Negi, Miss Ranjana Kukreti Mr. Manoj Kumar

Engineer Senior Programme Coordinator

Programme Coordinator Computer Programmer Trainer

Nurseryman

Computer Operator

Mr. Manoj Murari, Mr. Vineet Mamgain

15

16

Moving Beyond Trainings and Technology Solutions to Deliver Rural Empowerment

Objective: The objective of the project is to identify the gaps in the current model of entrepreneurship developed for skill upgradation of local women and augmentation of their earning potential. The project offers an in depth insight into the existing challenges with respect to marketing, financial gains and scale of operations and suggesting alternatives to ensure sustainability and expansion of current practices.

Scope: The project scope includes the following:

1. Understanding the entrepreneurship model adopted by WISE

and the way forward.

2. Interaction with the entrepreneurs for identification of factors

contributing to their success and the challenges faced.

3. Proposal of different alternatives to address the concerns with

the current model and apprise them of opportunities for future expansion

17

Methodology: The initial stage of the study involved discussions with Dr Kiran Negi, the head of the Wise initiative, to understand how the idea of Wise was conceptualised and implemented. This helped us assess the positives and the hurdles in taking WISE to where it is today and associated initiatives taken so far to attend to the challenges. Further regular interviews were conducted with Dr. Kiran and Dr Anil Joshi to understand their aspirations for the WISE project. Next stage involved visits to meet local entrepreneurs and how they have benefitted from the Wise initiative and success factors and issues in running their businesses. We made visit to the local outlet to understand the functioning of the WISE outlet and the marketing efforts made to sell the products from the entrepreneurs. Further we engaged in deliberations with real estate agents, local bakeries, and several governments and non- government organizations to arrive at proposed alternatives for future operations of Wise and associated and potential entrepreneurs and assess the feasibility of the proposed alternatives. The organizations showed interest in keeping the WISE products at their retail outlets and are willing to negotiate fair terms; these organizations have certain pre-requisites in respect of standardisation and certification of certain products. Further some of them require approval of samples of products at their Delhi/ Dehradun office before agreement to stock WISE products and offer for sale. The real estate agents discussed about opportunities of renting/owning of the outlets and the various sizes of shops available in the areas with high footfall and high income areas.

18

Current Scenario
WISE is currently engaged in offering training to cater to varied interests and skills of the local women and empowering them to achieve economic independence. Te following is the list of the products produced under WISE: Wise unit products
S.N. 1. Bio Resources Fruits Products Jam, Jelly, Juice, Squash,Chutney, Murabba, Candy, Powder , Pulp, Achar Achar, Mix Achar Dry Chips , Dry Vegetables Biscuits , Cakes, Muffins Fain, Laddoo, Health mix Grain, Pulse, Oil, Fruits,Vegetables Packaging and selling Dry powder, Dry spices packaging, Bag, Purse, Pocket, File cover, Handmade Design Product, Fancy Gift Product Scented Doop, Scented Agarbatti Essence products, Edible Oil, Vanaspati, Pure ghee, Mala, Flower pot, Flower stick, Dry Flower leafs art, Candle design leaf art Furniture, Table, Rack, Chairs, Dustbin, Temple, Gift products, etc. Cheap furniture, Table, Rack Chairs, Temple, Dustbin, Briquette, Fire stick, cow dung /coal mix briquette Water mill, Agriculture Water Electricity power Honey, Royal medicine Jelly Royal medicine Makrund Royal medicine wax Fish cultivation, Duck cultivation
19

2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Vegetables Millets/ Whole grains Crops Pulses Spices

7.

Fibre

8.

Aromatic Plants

9. 10.

Oil yielding plants Flowers

11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Bamboo & Ringal Weeds Lantana Cow dung Water Bee keeping

16.

Pond

Further with respect to Finance Since WISE mainly focussed on creating self employment for rural women, these women didnt have funds to engage in commercial production based on the training undertaken. To address this gap, WISE bank was initiated with the purpose of providing financial support to the entrepreneurs to start their own business and reach a stage where they can run their businesses through a regular plough back from existing earnings. However due to lack of accounting literacy, entrepreneurs do not maintain cost and financial records of the activities undertaken by them. Also the WISE bank records are not computerised to assess constantly the available funds for disbursement and support to the entrepreneurs. Marketing We learned that initially WISE helped the women entrepreneurs to create their own brand and also assisted in packaging and labelling. However it was later realised that better marketability of their produce can be ensured through an umbrella branding of the produce of all entrepreneurs under the WISE brand as people acknowledge the WISE initiative and have faith in it. Therefore the current practice is packaging and labelling under WISE brand name. However the packaging design and labels used for various products fail to provide relevant information about the high nutritional value and the organic methods used in its preparation. INSERT PICTURE OF THE KALA BIST outlet products PICS, or the WISE outlet showing new branding. Currently they solely rely on word of mouth marketing. Organization of events at HESCO like the recent millet mela etc, offering internships to students from schools and colleges across the country, partnering with the IMA and and other Government institutes.

20

For distribution The major concern here is that the local producers suffer due to appropriation of major profits by the companies and the middlemen. Therefore they rely on the following to offer the products directly to end consumers and share with them the benefits from elimination of middlemen. 1. The entrepreneurs offer their produce at the Wise outlet in Premnagar and ghari. The produce of the entrepreneurs are displayed at the outlet and they are paid only when the products are actually sold 2. WISE stall is set-up in various fates and exhibitions in Uttarakhand and outside whereby the produce is collected from all entrepreneurs to offer for sale and procure orders. It also helps in relationship building with the potential customers. 3. They also keep samples of their products with their friends and family staying at different places to evoke interest in the neighbourhood and procure purchase orders. 4. Some entrepreneurs also indulge in exchange of their produce/ place it with them to offer the produce in different localities. This provides incentive to the entrepreneurs to sell each others products and ensures safety of returns. 5. Since local retailers push for products with high margin and also do not pay until the product is sold, this leads to unnecessary blocking of capital and no sales, therefore the entrepreneurs avoid the retailer distribution route. 6. They have a lot of loyal customers and large part of sales is made to order. INSERT PICTURE OF THE OUTLET IF U HAVE

21

Summary of the WISE initiative results

S No.

No. of Enterprise Women Entrepreneur 10 40 25 Bakery

Resource

Bank Support

Earning (Rs.)/ month

1. 2. 3.

Local millet

Yes Yes Yes

8,000/15,000/15,000/-

Fruit processing Local fruits Watermill flour Local crops

4.

150

Pulse Processing Incense material Nutri sweets Composting Carpet Weaving Bag designing Vegetable cultivation Lantana craft Stone painting

Local pulses

No

6,000/-

5.

50

Local aromatic plants Local millets -------Sheep wool

No

5,500/-

6. 7. 8.

60 30 24

No ---------

4,000/3,500/3,000/-

9. 10.

50 180

-------------

-------------

2,000/4,000-5,000 (Seasonal) 3,000 4,500

11. 12.

10 10

Lantana Stone

---------------

13.

120

Candle making

Local leaves/ Aromatic plants Local fibre

------

10,000 (Seasonal) 4,000-5,000

14.

40

Fibre

--------

15.

15

Home appliances

----------

---------

2,500-3,000

22

Future Prospects
Alternative 1. Expand yourself
Here the idea concerns an aggressive expansion approach pursued entirely by WISE itself. This would require Wise to At operational level: Provide training to even wider base of micro-entrepreneurs in the retail sector to generate sufficient volumes of products offered. At distributional level: Opening up own retail outlets/shops in high foot traffic areas and high income areas such as Vasant vihar, Rajendar nagar, Rajpur road etc Setting up an online web-store front with VISA, Mastercard etc payment gateway facilities to procure orders for the varied products online. Supplyng to schools whose students regularly visit or have internship tie-ups with the organization. At marketing level: Better packaging which describes the nutritional/differential quality of the products. Description of the products and the methods of production that differentiate it from others should be well highlighted on the website.

At financial level: Since owning an outlet in the posh areas can be really expensive, the idea of financial lease can be explored and priority sector lending can be exploited.
23

Further inputs will depend on the inputs about the quotations from the real estate agents.

Benefits: This will help further the idea of entrepreneurship with end-to end business functioning by taking our products directly to the end consumers. This will accord greater control over price, costs, quality and SKUs to be produced as direct feedback from the customers would be available. Setting up a web storefront would expand the reach of the entrepreneurs and offer excellent scope for marketing and creating awareness about the WISE initiative so that more and more people associate with it. Challenges: Both rental and ownership of outlet options in the heavy footfall areas can be really expensive.

24

Alternative 2. Partner with Government and Other Rural Focused Organizations This proposition offers opportunity for steady growth by partnering with several government and other private rural focused organization such as khadi bhandar, fabindia, tribes india etc. KHADI GRAMUDYOG

Khadi Bhandar Stocks a range of products Need HESCOs recognition by KVIC and products certification by AGMARK.

Established in 1962, it is based on the concept of procuring products from rural people and offering it to end consumers through its own chain of outlets across the country. Samples of Wise products will have to be approved at its Delhi office to explore opportunities of partnership.

25

Tribes India This organization is also concerned with selling rural produce. However the price points are slightly lower than fabindia. This is so because they assume limited product related liability. Approval for partnership can be taken at the Dehradun office itself.

Benefits: This helps overcome the trust issues WISE entrepreneurs have with the regional middlemen and distributors as fair price would be assured. This enables WISE to benefit from the established name and regular footfall at large no of distribution outlets established across India. Also since some of these organizations assume limited product related liabilities this helps overcome fears of legal litigation the WISE entrepreneurs have. Challenges: Standardisation of the produce and certification requirements for certain products to be sold at the outlets.
26

Alternative 3. Tie-up with local bakeries This alternative explores opportunities of a potential tie-up with the popular bakeries in the nearby areas. For instance

Ellora Bakers The bakery offers similar products and has similar target customer base. When interacted they expressed interest in products with specific benefits. However feedback on the products awaited.

Standard Bakers This bakery again has required products and customer base. When interacted with them they displayed enthusiasm in buying the product and seemed Interested in talks with HESCO. However they require related to product information. Benefits: These are popular brand names at the regional level assuring regular footfall and better opportunities of targeting the customer base. Also since they have been functioning for years, they enjoy high credibility with the customers and will thus
27

help in reinforcing the nutritional characteristics of our products and creating demand. Help generate regular demand for the products and provide incentives to the micro-entrepreneurs to produce more and enhance quality. Challenges: Overcoming the trust issues the micro-entrepreneurs have in partnering with these distributors. Offering incentive to the local bakeries to promote the WISE products to their customers.

Alternative 4. Contract farming This refers to a system for production and supply of agricultural produce under contracts between producers and buyers. Success stories of Contract Farming implementation: Contract farming by Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), Rallis and ICICI. Plans to rope in insurance, equipment and storage companies Contract farming by Pepsi. Strategic partnership with local bodies like the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Ltd. (PAIC)

28

Benefits: Regular demand for the products of WISE entrepreneurs offering them incentives to improve quality. Leveraging the learnings of the contractual partners to ensure better product offerings. Challenges: Farmers price takers, contracting firm makes the price.If market price more advantageous than contract price, farmers renege on contract Labor-saving farm practices, less employment generation. After the contract ends, the farmers will have to look for newer parties to enter into contract to ensure sustained demand. Fears of legal litigations by the contractual partners among the farmers and WISE entrepreneurs.

29

Strengths:
High quality of products in terms of nutritional value. Based on available local resources so garner Govt support in terms of funding and exhibitions. Strong collaboration with the IMA which helps widen its reach especially to inaccessible areas. Excellent reputation of nearly 10 years of successful entrepreneurship. Loyal customers which creates a pull for WISE products.

Weaknesses:
Multitude of products which leads to issues in apt allocation of scarce resources.

Lack of Differentiation of products.

Uncertainty with respect to uniformity in quality of similar products procured from different entrepreneurs. Lack of regular distribution channel to market in uptown areas. Heavy reliance on word of mouth marketing and no point of purchase displays or other forms of low cost advertising like flyers. No cost and financial records maintenance.

SWOT Analysis: WISE

Opportunities:
Developments in rural areas creating avenues for regular income.

Threats:
Competition from other ventures in the same direction like Khadi gramodyog etc Rising investment costs to set-up own outlets across Uttarakhand to widen its customer base. Mistrust among entrepreneurs with respect to contracts and legal proceedings of partnership with regional/big players. Competition from the organised sector.

Promising growth in the size of middle class.

Increasing trend of demand for organic products. Sound CSR initiatives Partnering with external distribution partners will help scale up and improvement of production practices

30

OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS As we gathered insight into the WISE initiative, we helped the organization in preparation of a brochure which provided details about WISE how and when it was initiated, the scope of the programme; role played by WISE bank and also covered success stories about entrepreneurs who received training and support under WISE. Further our major contribution was towards editing of a book titled Struggling success of rural development which captures the essence of the organization to the core and provides rationale for the philosophy of the organization. It also covers information with regard to the efforts made in various directions to further the cause of economic independence of rural India. We assisted in terms of reviewing the 180 pager book to spot and correct the grammatical errors, enhance the quality of the vocabulary used, eliminate any repetitive material, restructure the information and make formatting changes so that the book can be printed to spread awareness about the work and achievements made in the direction of rural development to not only procure funds for its ongoing and future projects but also inspire corporates to support the organization whole heartedly. Also to motivate youngsters belonging to rural areas to have faith in the great opportunities for sustenance in rural areas by tapping the locally available resources and take pride in their community and resources.

31