SIDBI’s 5 day ‘Swavalamban Mela’ felicitates 146 entrepreneurs to sell directly to the buyers at Ahmedabad Haat 

Promoting entrepreneurship and handholding budding entrepreneurs is the essence of such initiatives: Sudatta Mandal, Deputy Managing Director SIDBI

BILKULONLINE

Ahmedabad, Dec 5:  Turnout of over Rs 65 lakh and impressive footfall, the five days’ SIDBI organised ‘Swavalamban Mela’ ( Self-Reliance Fair) was a successful event.

• As many as 146 entrepreneurs (including 92 fempreneurs) exhibited their products directly before the visiting buyers at the Ahmedabad Haat during Dec 1 and 5.

Artisans from all over Gujarat participated in the Mela. The items for sale included kurtis, bags, rugs and carpets, jewellery, home decor, mitti bartan, sarees, cloth material, variety of handcrafted items, including textiles, pottery, jewellery, and traditional handicrafts made by local artisans. 

Providing details of the Mela, Sanjay Gupta, Chief General Manager of SIDBI said that “Artisans from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Morbi, Bhavnagar, Patan, Rajkot, Odhav, Junagadh, Gandhinagar and Orissa, Haryana, Kashmir and Bihar also participated in the Mela. Items ranging from Rs 50 to Rs 2.5 lakhs were on the display and received very good response from the people of Ahmedabad”.

Sudatta Mandal, Deputy Managing Director SIDBI who was the Chief Guest at the closing day of the Mela explained BILKULONLINE while stating the SIDBI’s Mela concept that “The Swavalamban Mela is an event organized to promote and support self-employment and entrepreneurship among individuals, particularly those from marginalized or underprivileged communities. The purpose of the ‘Swavalamban Mela’ is to provide a platform for aspiring entrepreneurs to showcase their products and services, connect with potential customers and investors, and access resources and support to start or grow their businesses”.

 “Idea is to handhold the entrepreneurs to enable them a venue where their products can be displayed and sold by them directly. We are not charging any rent for stalls and electricity charges to the artisans who are showcasing their products or skills. Idea is to allow them to earn all the profit by themselves and be encouraged to continue as entrepreneurs. We firmly believe that this would help the art and artists of traditional skills would survive and the young generations who otherwise would skip learning the art would join with their elders to continue and earn from it. We want to hand-hold them to find avenues to make it a profitable means of earning. In this regard government has recently launched an e-commerce application ONDC for the artisans” Mandal added.

SIDBI has been engaged in clusters through its direct lending business as also through promotion and development interventions.

Rajeev Agarwal, a retired senior officer who was paying a visit to the Mela with his family when contacted by BILKULONLINE said “It is a nice concept and has impressive collection of items. Such Melas if participated by genuine artisans are a great initiative and must be frequently organised by the SIDBI”

Hetal Amin, the women wing president of the ACCWF, an NGO of Gujarat expressed her gratitude and shared her happiness about the fact that her NGO was also responsible to motivate and inform some women enterpreneurs and artists to participate in the SIDBI organised ‘Swavalamban Mela’  which is a direct and sumptuous help for them.

Several artisans who participated in the Meal also included Ranjan Shanti– a National Award Winning Wood Carver from Orissa who lives in Gujarat. He displayed Rs 2.5 lakh’s one wooden carving of Lord ‘Manibhadra Veer’.