Upendra Kumar, a young passionate guy from Satbarwa block of Palamu district of Jharkhand. After completion of BA he started his first job as a Micro-enterprise consultant in Micro-enterprise consultant(MEC) project under Jharkhand Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS). Being a son of SHG member he is fully aware of the working culture of JSLPS and it was not at all challenging for him to work on this new project. After getting trained from Kudumbashree NRO, his level of confidence and interest towards the project started boosted up. Slowly, Upendra started giving a proper direction to the project in his block. There are few success stories of Upendra which he had achieved under the MEC project.
Under the MEC project, Upendra supported Sarita Devi to get a financial support to start tailoring business in her village. Sartia Devi, an SHG member of Durga Ajeevika SHG of Satbarawa. As Upendra is a well-known micro-enterprise consultant in Satbrawa so Sarita Devi approach to him to support and guide her to start a tailoring business. Upendra encountered an old tailoring machine in Sarita’s house when he had visited her house for the first time. Then Upendra suggested her to get the old machine repaired instead of buying a new machine. In order to repair the machine, Upendra helped Sarita’s to get a loan amount of 2000 from the SHG. Right now, Sarita is earning a monthly income of 2500-3000 from the business.
Similarly, Upendra has more success stories of providing handholding support, financial support, and bank linkage support to Santhosh Kumar who have started a seasonal food business in bus stand of Satbarwa and who earn a monthly net profit of 8000-12000.
When Upendra was trying to establish himself as a well-known Micro-enterprise consultant of his village at the same time, it has been officially announced to end up the MEC project in all the areas of Jharkhand. Though the project has been ended up in the areas but the because of people like Upendra, the impact of the project is still continued. In order to inspire other people to take up a small business, he himself started a small vegetable business in the village.
After a gap of one a year when the new program under NRLM named Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Program(SVEP) has come in the district. Then no any other better veteran was there who can lead the program in the villages of Palamu district. He has been called by JSLPS and selected him as a Community Resource person for Enterprise Promotion (CRPEP) in SVEP program. As he is experienced and well-known in the block as a Micro-enterprise consultant so his CRPEP group members made him as president of the whole group who leads and implement the program in the block.
This is the small story from a small corner of Jharkhand but this inspiring journey of Upendra Kumar from vegetable seller to a Micro-enterprise consultant under Start-Up Village Entrepreneurship Program(SVEP) may be inspiring for the youth of the country who’s conviction and dedication is similar to Upendra.