Merchant Ventures Pvt Ltd (MVPL), through its trust, Jaiwant Salvi Foundation (JSF), incorporated in January 2020 supports CSR projects. MVPL has taken up the initiative of contributing to the welfare of ex-servicemen through collaborations with institutions working for this cause and supporting them through the resources of the company and its Trust. One such institution that MVPL has collaborated with since June 2019 is Indian Ex-Defence Service Employees Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IESECCI).
With the available database of ex-servicemen across India, MVPL is making efforts to map the skills of ex-servicemen to potential opportunities and placements. MVPL through its affiliate companies in the Hospitality, Manufacturing, Trading, IT, Events and offshore accounts and business process outsourcing industries, will be creating an online platform to connect ex-servicemen to the available employment opportunities. MVPL will provide career counselling and training through Not-For-Profit institutions it has collaborated with for the welfare of the ex-servicemen. In addition, MVPL through its client engagements generates human resource requirements. These requirements can be channelised to provide employment opportunities to the ex-servicemen who have been referred by institutions like IESECCI. MVPL will be setting aside a part of revenues to contribute to the welfare of ex-servicemen through its Trust (JSF).
The goal of this initiative is to raise awareness of the job opportunities which are available to ex-servicemen. The collaboration with IESECCI and other similar organisations aims to connect and train the ex-servicemen for employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.
AID TO ENTERPRISE
AID TO ENTERPRISE is a vision of Merchant Ventures Pvt Ltd (MVPL) to create a sustainable, digital business model called “Smart Village”. The Smart Village will be implemented in rural areas across the country to align with the state and local government policies and CSR activities to address issues faced by the rural population regarding its development and growth.
The Smart Village Project aims to develop the entire rural eco-system, represented by the four pillars: institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure. The central feature of our smart village will be a modular, smart community centre equipped with the latest Information Communication Technology (ICT) to provide healthcare, banking, telemedicine, education, entertainment and host of other similar services. The Smart Village will be funded through CSR funds. Smart villages will use intelligent solutions to optimise resources and provide responsive governance to engage villagers in the management of their villages. Improved digital connectivity to the urban areas will connect the villages to the mainland opportunities of entrepreneurship, employment, education, healthcare, etc. The digital connectivity of the Smart Villages will be a catalyst for the urban businesses to penetrate the rural untapped market. With a mammoth size of 83 crores population residing in 6,40,867 villages, rural India offers a huge untapped potential for any business.
In addition, the smart village will be equipped with data analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI ) tools to analyse the infrastructure needs coupled with the infrastructure available. The deficiencies in infrastructure will be identified and paired up with the appropriate local and state programs to fill that gap. A customised solution will be implemented in the most efficient manner.
The approach to turn this concept into reality is summarised below:
1. Identify CSR funds
2. Identify villages which will benefit.
3. Meet local Gram Panchayat to assess their need and interest in implementation.
4. Build a customised community centre from the source of funds in step 1.
5. Initiate dialogue with G2C and B2C service providers to create the channel to provide services through the centre.
6. Transfer ownership to the local Gram Panchayat.
7. Initiate an AMC contract which will engage locals or ex-servicemen to run the centres.
Existing data from the local Gram Panchayat will be collected and additional studies and surveys will be conducted. Each smart village shall have a dedicated Program Manager and reports at every stage of Research, Advisory and Implementation will be shared with the stakeholders.
Need Assessment , Program Benefit and Social Perception Studies(SROI) will be conducted in the project pre-planning stage so that experts have reliable data to customise the solutions and create action plans.
MVPL through its own CSR funding and its client’s organisation CSR funds intends to create a corpus which will kickstart implementation of the Smart Village. In addition, public allocation of funds and philanthropic contributions by individuals can also be integrated to fund this initiative.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) enforced the spending under CSR as per Companies Act, 2013 and the CSR rules from 1st April 2014. After the new Companies Act made it mandatory for companies with a net worth of Rs 500 crores or with annual turnover of Rs 1000 crores to spend under CSR, India’s total CSR reporting increased by 27% in 2015, compared to pre CSR legislation, the maximum among 45 countries surveyed by international audit firm KPMG.
To deliver on the promise of reinvigorating the development sector, MVPL is committed to evolve the CSR spend from inputs to outcomes, from individuals to ecosystems and from delivering services to building capacity and enabling markets. The Smart Village project has been conceptualised on these lines. The companies need to evolve from Compliance driven CSR to Strategic and Catalytic CSR.
The Smart Village Program will be run by qualified program management consultants on board with MVPL. Each smart village will have a dedicated Program Manager who will submit reports at defined stages of Implementation with the stakeholders. The ownership of these centres will remain with the local Gram Panchayat, local bodies, and the villagers.
On completion, the ownership of the smart village community centres will be handed over to the designated stakeholders and MVPL will continue as its O&M partner. On completion MVPL shall oversee the AMC of these centres to ensure the mission of “Aid To Enterprise” is fulfilled over the program life.
The Smart Village Initiative of MVPL through the digitally enabled smart community centres will create an infrastructure which will enable access for G2C and B2C services at the rural level.
Empowering villagers through education, Skill development will create a robust workforce in remote locations enabling business and industry to penetrate and establish operations remotely to save costs and maximise profits.
By digitally empowering villages and creating skilled workforce business in mainland can begin “outsourcing” to the villages through these smart village community centres. MVPL will also collaborate with NGO’s working at the grass root levels in villages to create livelihood and promote local art, workmanship, techniques, products inherent of the rich and diverse culture of India and connect them to markets in urban areas and across borders.
Creating awareness of mainland opportunities digitally available to rural pupulation and smart logistics solutions through digital B2C services will help businesses tap a large potential market.
Self sufficient villages will pave the way for migrant workers to return to their villages thereby taking the load off the urban city infrastructure. The vision of ‘Aid to Enterprise’, shall make the villages self sustainable over a period of time.