GAME aims to catalyze ‘Mass Entrepreneurship’ movement

New Delhi, Aug 23 (KNN) A group of Indian and international partners has announced the formation of the ‘Global Alliance Mass Entrepreneurship’ (GAME), a new coalition that aims to catalyze a ‘Mass Entrepreneurship’ movement in India.

It will aim to create 10 million new entrepreneurs, at least half of whom will be women and 50 million new jobs by 2030.

GAME has received initial funding commitment of Rs 100 crore over three years from several Indian and global donors.

The announcement was made at a day-long workshop, a first step in identifying a collective vision, driving commitment from interested organizations and defining concrete action plan for the proposed alliance.

The workshop was organized by The Rockefeller Foundation with support from Dalberg Advisors and had participants from nearly 50 organizations including the Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Meghalaya, Tata Trusts, UNICEF, World Bank and many more.

“Mass entrepreneurship” refers to the millions of ordinary local businesses that typically hire five or more people, use local inputs and serve local needs in every community.

 Based on the research of Dalberg Advisors, GAME has identified three pathways of intervention which includes nurturing entrepreneurial mindsets early to help students consider entrepreneurship a viable career option and receive relevant exposure and experience, converting job seekers to entrepreneurs by creating entrepreneurial opportunities & reducing the risks associated with becoming an entrepreneur, and help single and micro-entrepreneurs to grow and aspire for more than basic survival by providing services like training, advisory/mentoring as well as access to finance.

Ravi Venkatesan, former Chairman of Bank of Baroda and Microsoft India and founder of GAME said, “Job creation is a classic “wicked” problem; it is systemic, involves lots of stakeholders, and is interconnected with many other issues, ranging from infrastructure and access to finance to ease of doing business. It defies simple solutions and silver bullets.”

Announcing the formal launch of the initiative, Venkatesan said, “With GAME, we aim to create a focused autonomous organization, bringing together a consortium of public, private and civil society organizations.”

With a shared mission, the right leadership, and governance model, it can become a platform that allows everyone with an interest in mass entrepreneurship to plug in and play, he added.

Supporting this initiative, K.P. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Govt. of India said that skilling should lead to livelihoods generations.

He said the missing link is the ecosystem for creation of mass entrepreneurship. GAME, with potential solutions to this problem, is most timely, he added.