Udhyam is a rural entrepreneurship program designed to encourage entrepreneurship among village communities in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon region. With the right support, Udhyam entrepreneurs create jobs for their communities and contribute to the local economy.
What we do
Incubation or scaling
Whether it's a new business idea or an existing enterprise, the Udhyam team works closely on the ground with each entrepreneur for a period of two years.
Financial support through loans
Based on their business needs, all entrepreneurs get access to financial resources. They are given loans payable in instalments over two years through our partner NBFCs.
Timely
guidance
Our team regularly checks in with entrepreneurs on their monthly records, to understand their challenges in business and ensure they are making progress on their goals.
Personalised mentoring
Under mentoring support, entrepreneurs with specific needs are connected with specialized local mentors who provide support in marketing, strategic and financial planning.
Why Udhyam?
To slow down the rate of migration from Uttarakhand’s hilly areas to cities, by providing sustainable livelihood opportunities in the villages itself through locally owned and community based enterprises.
There is a massive need for employment in the region, as an increasing number of educated youth in the Kumaon region currently face a bleak future with very limited livelihood options.
We envision that this will have a multiplier effect in the short and medium term, effectively boosting local employment, creating jobs and encouraging more and more people to consider entrepreneurship as a viable choice. We work in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 8 of ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’, which aims to tackle the growing problems of youth unemployment and access to opportunity.
Who we support
Jeevan Dangwal
A self-taught and driven entrepreneur, Jeevan started an adventure camp in his village Sunkiya and is employing locals.
Lalita Bisht
Disillusioned by big city jobs, Lalita came back to start the first beauty parlour in her village with Udhyam’s support.
Shubham Kabdwal
Shubham dreams of owning a large dairy farm someday. He currently sells organic cow ghee, made the traditional Kumaoni way.
Learn more about the rest of the Udhyamis
How we're doing so far
…
35
additional jobs created
100+
entrepreneurs supported
Rs 2 crores
given in loans
3
districts in Kumaon
Our team
Udhyam's journey
The Hindi word ‘udhyam’ means ‘enterprise’ in English.
Udhyam’s journey began in the two hill districts of Nainital and Almora in Uttarakhand’s Kumaon division in 2017. A group of individuals who have been making consistent efforts in the mountain region of Uttarakhand for the past 10 years launched Udhyam as a pilot in 2017. We believe entrepreneurship can provide alternatives to migration in the long term.
We started in the first year with our first cohort of 8 entrepreneurs from Nainital district, carefully chosen through a selection process evaluating the viability of their B-plan, local relevance of the idea and its impact on the local economy.
In our second year, we received an overwhelming response with 499 applications. Of these, we are supporting 40 entrepreneurs as aspiring and existing entrepreneurs.
Get involved
Would you like to mentor one of the Udhyam entrepreneurs?
Perhaps you'd like to join the Udhyam team, visit our entrepreneurs or volunteer with us?
Write to us
info@
udhyamentrepreneurs.org
Call us
Weekdays (10am to 5pm) at +919456313610
Where to find us
Nainital district,
Uttarakhand