It is nearly 14 years since Udyogini came into existence as a service provider for microenterprise management services, principally training for poor, assetless and mainly illiterate women in the backward states of India. As a specialized agency, on this date, and when there is recognition of the need to go 'beyond credit' to enable women to invest in productive activities, Udyogini is placed at the very center of developing cutting-edge knowledge and practice for microenterprises for the poor, especially women.

Back in the early 1990s, when Udyogini was established, the focus on microenterprise management training was innovative at a time when even microcredit was a new idea. Udyogini took an early lead in the domain by motivating smaller NGOs towards microenterprise in their portfolio of programs for poverty alleviation for women. It enabled NGOs, through a program of sustained support comprising training for enterprise awareness, management and counseling, to move into developing microenterprise programs and having staff with orientation to microenterprise. The NGOs that have grown and now have established microenterprise programs such as URMUL, SURE and LUPIN in Rajasthan; NIPDIT and Samanwita in Orissa and ADITHI in Bihar are distinguished alumni of Udyogini's enterprise motivation and management training.

Udyogini as well as other institutions in Africa, supported through a World Bank initiative, developed the concept of and manual for Grassroots Management Training (GMT), which is now a core activity in Udyogini's work in India and in many NGO and government programs around the world such as in Peru, other Andean and African countries and Romania.

Udyogini's vision and perspective on microenterprises for women has always been to empower women to understand and participate in critical enterprise processes. As 'the market' gains prominence, the need for women to become knowledgeable, confident and lead enterprises just as they have led microcredit initiatives becomes critical.

Institutional Approach