Intex Technologies, one of the leading mobile handset and consumer electronics major, has tied-up with Livelihood Initiatives for Empowerment (LIFE) to set-up the first ‘Intex-LIFE Entrepreneur Development Centre’ at Akola, Maharashtra for training rural youth.
In the pilot phase, the partnership intends to train around 20 rural youth with entrepreneurship development skills to set up rural enterprises in Akola. For this, LIFE will first create entrepreneurs by providing required skills, training and certification over a period of two months and then provide them information about possible enterprise options in the public, private and development space. Of the 20 youth being trained and certified as entrepreneurs, at least 12 i.e. 60% will be converted into entrepreneurs within three months of certification.
The initiative will create enterprise options for the rural poor using INTEX-LIFE as a brand to launch and later sustain the business by continued mentorship, identification and integration of locally relevant business opportunities in the private and public sector space with the prime objective of improving development of rural youth and their quality of life.
Commenting on this noble initiative, Ishita Bansal, representing Intex said, “At Intex, we believe that imparting skills through vocational training is of the utmost importance if we want our youth to attain employment, be self-reliant and enter the mainstream of society. With this objective in mind, INTEX will be launching many more initiatives in CSR space and is partnering with LIFE for this one to not only promote livelihood creation but also to drive local area development through enterprise initiatives.”
LIFE is supported by Samyak Samaj Pratishthan, a local outreach organisation based in Akola to provide outreach support in terms of community mobilisation.
Minu Thommen, executive director, LIFE said, “An Enterprise Development Academy for the benefit of rural youth has been my dream since the time I walked into the development sector thirteen years back. We will be continuously scouting for businesses, products and services for our entrepreneurs, whereby they can stay in their communities and earn a sustainable livelihood.”
