Speaking on the occasion, Mohammad Mustafa, IAS, Chairman and Managing Director of SIDBI said, “This initiative is a part of our SIDBI Vision 2.0. SIDBI is poised to inspire the aspirational India, the Swavalamban way i.e. being job creators. The uniqueness of this mela is a blend of credit connect, market connect, financial literacy, design connect and so on. We intend to widen the horizon of micro enterprises pan India and enable them to enhance their aspirations by taking next leap of growth through capacity building.”
The Chief Guest of the event, Vini Mahajan, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab, said, “This initiative of SIDBI is very unique and will certainly enable the artisans and small business owners, especially the women entrepreneurs, to showcase their skills and products and will also boost their enterprising spirit. The youths visiting the Mela will get inspirations from these role models and will follow in their footsteps in the direction of Swavalamban i.e. job creators rather than job seekers.”
With a view to impart financial literacy and help in credit connect, SIDBI has joined hands with several entities namely, Common Services Center, Small Finance Banks, Self Help Groups (SHGs) and training centers for Women.
Over 55 plus artists from Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have been brought under one roof with their awe-inspiring handcrafted collection including pottery, embroidery, crochet craft, painting, textile hand embroidery, wood carving, applique work, jewellery, leather bags, wallets, belt, garments, handmade jewellery, toran, handcraftedkurtis, etc.
Under the MissionSwavalamban, SIDBI is organizing Swavalamban Mela at various other locations across the country with an objective to provide a platform to micro enterprises especially artisans to showcase their products and to help these entrepreneurs in getting exposure, accessing and understanding of markets. The mela aims at sowing the seeds of entrepreneurship amongst aspirant youth who can identify the role models among these exhibitors and endeavor to evolve as an entrepreneur. These micro enterprises at the bottom of the pyramid shall connect with who’s who of enterprise ecosystem and understand market dynamics the better way.