India is a country of rich cultural heritage, and this enriching local heritage is a national legacy. Uplifting local artisans, weavers and micro entrepreneurs who hold the vision to do something big, despite facing societal challenges, is the right move in the current economic landscape.
For these artisans and rural entrepreneurs, access to marketing platforms and a wider customer base has remained an elusive goal. Programs like Flipkart Samarth, however, are helping bridge that gap and provide these communities ample opportunities to improve their incomes and quality of life. Currently, Flipkart Samarth supports more than 15,00,000 livelihoods across the country, and artisans gain access to a platform of over 450 million registered customers from all parts of India.
Flipkart Samarth is a unique initiative launched by Flipkart in 2019 and is aimed to empower underprivileged sections of society, artisans, and micro-enterprises. This initiative creates sustainable and inclusive livelihood opportunities, thus making these small businesses self-sufficient and is today supporting over a million livelihoods across the country. The program also has a special focus on empowering women entrepreneurs and many of its beneficiaries are women-led businesses.
Looking back to the significant journey while celebrating the first anniversary of Flipkart Samarth, Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Flipkart Group shares important insights and the vision of their initiative. Flipkart Samarth was launched, with the goal of helping traditionally underserved communities access a pan-India market and engage with over 450 million customers on Flipkart’s e-commerce marketplace platform. The program had a special focus on women and rural entrepreneurs, differently-abled entrepreneurs, artisans, and weavers, who often faced obstacles such as access to working capital, poor infrastructure, and inadequate training to adapt to digital platforms.
Rajneesh remembered the intent behind the initiative – to help ease the entry of small-scale artisans into e-commerce and empower them to utilize the benefits of technology and such platforms in driving change and bringing local products and handicrafts online. It was an ambitious goal, but one that Flipkart Samarth was determined to achieve. They had forged several meaningful partnerships with various stakeholders, including many state governments. Rajneesh was delighted with the impact Flipkart Samarth had generated in its first year. The businesses had started using technology to their advantage, and many had expanded their customer base beyond their local areas making their businesses self-sufficient and an integral part of the growing digital economy.
As a homegrown e-commerce company, Flipkart has always been committed to using technology to uplift and empower all sections of society, especially MSMEs. “These small businesses are the backbone of the Indian economy and Flipkart has been playing a significant role in building capabilities within the rural areas and has received an overwhelming response from the under-served entrepreneurs”, observes Rajneesh. This program is supporting the livelihoods of over 6 lakh artisans, weavers, handicraft-makers, and micro-enterprises across India by giving them pan-India market access.
Flipkart Samarth has received tremendous support from the central and state governments in driving its impact. Today there are many MoUs, with various governments including Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Karnataka. The program also partnered with the Uttar Pradesh Khadi & Village Industries Board and the Gujarat State Handloom and Handicrafts Development Corporation to bring local artisans and handicrafts onto Flipkart’s marketplace. Additionally, the program signed an MoU with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to collaborate with state missions under the DAY-NULM in setting up the Samarth program in 22 states across India
Building upon the encouraging response to Samarth over the past few years, the program has added a host of benefits for its partners to provide sustained support. The aim of Flipkart Samarth is to lead to empowered communities and bring them into the formal economy, making it a driving force for Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s Atmanirbhar Bharat vision.
While Flipkart provides free listing support to small businesses, it is also committed to empowering eco-friendly, socially responsible businesses that positively impact the local communities. Along with creating inclusive economic growth, this innovative initiative is also helping preserve India’s rich cultural heritage.
https://bookme.name/alidatodd
https://supplier.ihrsa.org/profile/415367/0
https://jobs.drupal.org/company/22568
https://www.quia.com/profiles/marianfostermarianfoster
https://www.englishbaby.com/findfriends/gallery/detail/2410659
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/carolinesheets-carolinesheets
