Beginning August 2024, around 130 enterprises, including start-ups from across Tamil Nadu, which are led by women entrepreneurs, will get mentored under the Tamil Nadu Rural Incubator and Start-up Enabler (TN-RISE) initiative.
“From January to June, we conducted 31 district boot camps which attracted approximately 2,500 enterprises. This was followed by one-on-one interviews and pitching sessions. And finally, 130 were shortlisted,” said Uma Maheswari, Chief Executive Officer of TN-RISE.
The enterprises zeroed in are from various sectors, including food processing, manufacturing, handicrafts / handloom / textiles and agriculture, among others. The firms are from regions like Cuddalore, Krishnagiri, Chengalpattu, Salem, and Thoothukudi.
TN-RISE operates as a Special Purpose Vehicle under the Tamil Nadu Rural Transformation Project (TNRTP). Registered as a section-8 company, TN-RISE supports emerging enterprises with guidance and financial backing.
“As the World Bank-assisted TNRTP is nearing its conclusion within a year, TN-RISE is poised to transition into a self-sustaining entity and will continue its operations independently under Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, Government of Tamil Nadu,” Ms. Maheswari noted.
According to her, TN-RISE will enable rural women entrepreneurs to have access to the government and its schemes; access to entrepreneurial and corporate community; access to support community; and access to be a part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the State.
To a query on whether TN-RISE would pick up stakes in these enterprises, Ms. Maheswari said, “We might not take direct stakes from the company. But we will be charging a success fee / management fee and phantom stock plan for our different programmes and initiatives.”
When asked about how the team would reach out to women in remote zones, she said: “We employ a hub-spoke model wherein TN-RISE serves as the central hub, complemented by OSFCs (One Stop Facility Centres), situated at the sub-district-level across all 31 districts of Tamil Nadu. These district OSFCs enable us to engage directly with rural enterprises at the grassroots level, identifying promising ventures and offering comprehensive support services to facilitate their business growth.”
Over the next one year, TN-RISE intends to on-board more promising enterprises from across districts of Tamil Nadu into different cohort-based programmes (pre-incubation, incubation and acceleration programmes).
