'Tech for Tribal' launched to bring technology to tribal entrepreneurs

TRIFED under Ministry of Tribal Affairs is establishing 1,200 "Van Dhan Vikas Kendra (VDVK)”, across 28 States engaging 3.6 Lakhs Tribal Forest Produce gatherers.

A game-changing and unique project aimed to transform 5 crores, Tribal Entrepreneurs, under the name “Tech for Tribal” has been launched by TRIFED. It was launched on19thMarch 2020 by TRIFED and IIT-Kanpur along with IIT-Roorkee, IIM Indore, Kalinga Institute of Social Science, Bhubaneshwar and SRIJAN, Jaipur in the first phase of organizing tribal entrepreneurship and skill development program.

Tech for Tribals, an initiative of TRIFED supported by the Ministry of MSME, aims at capacity building and imparting entrepreneurship skills to tribal forest produce gatherers enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana(PMVDY). The trainees will undergo a 30 days program over six weeks comprising 120 sessions.

Mr. Pravir Krishna, Managing Director TRIFED said, “TRIFED received an overwhelming response from all leading higher education institutions in the country for strategizing to infuse best in class training and capacity building for Tribals to start their enterprise. This initiative will impact over three lakhs Tribals”. TRIFED has drawn out a Five Year Strategy for 10X impact in Tribal development. “We are working towards greater convergence of various schemes under key Ministries of Government of India, leading national Institutions, Social sector and most of all Industry leaders, and work towards this singular goal of promoting tribal produce in a big way,” he added.

TRIFED under Ministry of Tribal Affairs is establishing 1,200 "Van Dhan Vikas Kendra (VDVK)”, across 28 States engaging 3.6 Lakhs Tribal Forest Produce gatherers. One typical VDVK comprises of 15 Self Help Groups, each consisting of 20 Tribal gatherers. The program aims at providing skill upgradation and capacity building of VDVK lead members. IIT, Kanpur, Roorkee, Ranchi, Rampur, IIM Vizag, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and other reputed institutes like DRI, SRIJAN, KISS, TISS, etc. have shown their keenness to partner with this programme initiated by TRIFED

Prof Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur said that IIT Kanpur has a very active Incubation Centre and a vibrant Department of Humanities & Social sciences. “All our students, start-ups at our Incubation Centre and alumni will have the opportunity to get directly involved in mentoring Tribal entrepreneurs and help them build sustainable businesses in the districts they operate”, he added.

Under the Tech for Tribals program, the Partners will develop course contents relevant to Entrepreneurship in Value Addition and Processing of Forest Produces. The course curriculum will include Achievement Motivation and positive psychology, Entrepreneurial Competencies, Identification of locally available NTFP based Business Opportunities, Round the Year capacity utilization, Product positioning - Grading / Sorting, Branding, Packaging, Product certifications, Bankable Project Report preparation, Market Survey, Business Plan Preparation, Distribution Channels- Retail sales, supply contracts with manufacturers, Good Manufacturing Practice(GMP), Total Quality Control(TQC), Hygienic Operations management, Operational and Financial statements, Business Strategy & Growth, Digital literacy& IT adoption, etc.  

The Tech for tribals capacity building program will ensure a higher success rate of the Tribal Entrepreneurs by enabling and empowering them to run their business with marketable products with quality certifications.

VanDhan products will be marketed through all available distribution channels.  TRIFED over the last three years has revamped itself as a network of 120 outlets across the country of which 72 are owned and operated by TRIFED themselves. TribesIndia outlets are already operational at the airports of Chennai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Pune, Goa, Kolkata. TRIFED also has aggressively pursued its eCommerce strategy with its own website (www.tribesindia.com) and is also available on other major e-com portals such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm, Amazon India, Amazon Global, etc. To push Government institutional purchases, TribesIndia has a presence in Government eMarket Place (GeM). National Level Tribal Festivals namely Aadi Mahotsavs, along with other exhibitions, are being organised in various cities all over the country are other efforts being taken to expand the marketing opportunities for TribesIndia products and country’s tribal heritage.

(With Inputs from PIB)