INTRODUCING 100 Soochnapreneurs Meet the Rural Wireless Information Entrepreneurs Riding the New Digital Wave INTRODUCING 100 Soochnapreneurs Meet the Rural Wireless Information Entrepreneurs Riding the New Digital Wave August 2017 INTRODUCTION As much as 67 per cent of India’s with Qualcomm, initiated the population lives in rural India; Soochnapreneur programme in and even by 2016, over 900 April 2016. Soochnapreneur is million Indians do not have a rural entrepreneurship-based access to the Internet. More than model that aims at empowering 300 million identified individuals youth in the villages of India fall under the category of below to sustain their livelihood by poverty line (BPL) who, by providing information and definition, earn less than a dollar services to those who are a day. This is the same share of information deprived and population that directly depends digitally excluded. on access to government schemes and entitlements as Flipping through the pages of their most basic rights. this booklet, you will read about 100 such Soochnapreneurs Realising the need to serve and understand their personal India’s rural, remote and journeys, their association marginalised population with with the programme, and what relevant information about keeps them going to serve their government services, schemes communities. and entitlements in a timely manner, Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), in partnership Abdesh has a simple and down to earth personality. In his family he has his mother, two brothers and a sister. He is married and has two children, i.e. a son and a daughter. His family’s occupation has been farming. Abdesh has completed his BA degree. For the past two years he has been managing a kiosk bank. Playing cricket is his favorite hobby. He has a simple dream that he wants to earn enough money to lead a good quality of life. He is glad to be part of ABDESH DHAKAD the SoochnaPreneur programme and he has been helping the people from 25 YEARS nearby areas to solve their problems in using a computer. He says that with the Vishanwada Panchayat, help of Information Technology people Bamori Block, Guna, in rural areas need not travel far from Madhya Pradesh their homes and they can get the basic facilities in their village itself. In his free time he likes watching movies and playing cricket. He is a big fan of Ajay Devgann and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Abdesh has earlier been felicitated by the bank where he was working for his excellent performance. 6 INTRODUCING 100 SOOCHNAPRENEUR Abhimanyu is a young enterprising SoochnaPreneur from West Champaran district in Bihar. He has done his education till Class 12th. He belongs to a BPL family. His father has been a small farmer. In his family are his parents, his wife, two brothers and a sister. His wife is also educated till Class 12th and is currently a home-maker. Prior to joining the SoochnaPreneur programme he had gained experience of working at an Aadhaar Card centre. He feels as ABHIMANYU YaDAV a SoochnaPreneur he can help people with filling out forms related to various 25 YEARS schemes. He realizes that due to lack of information about various schemes which Vishanwada Panchayat, was not percolating down from the block Bamori Block, Guna, level, many of the potential beneficiaries Madhya Pradesh were being left out from accessing the benefits of the schemes. His presence has ensured that people in his community are able to get such useful information from Internet. In his free time Abhimanyu likes playing cricket, surfing the net and watching movies. He is a big fan of film star Ajay Devgann. PAGE 7 Akram comes from a humble background. With limited means he had somehow managed to finish his graduation and was looking to start something of his own. One day, as the luck would have it, he met Pankaj Sharma in the market of his village. Pankaj is a district coordinator, SoochnaPreneur project, in Alwar and was than conducting interviews for hiring SoochnaPreneurs to meet the digital requirements of his village. Pankaj was particularly impressed with the young AKRAM KHAN lad for his passion to commence his own business. Akram also showed good 22 YEARS knowledge in terms of digital needs and wants of the area residents, so he was Nangal Khanjadi Village, selected as he fit the bill completely. Laxmangarh Block, Alwar, This arrangement happened at a very Rajasthan opportune moment with regard to his depleting financial conditions. Today, he is not only running a profit-making Soochna Seva Kendra but is also serving the community members with digital literacy, digital services and access to government schemes and entitlements. Akram has two brothers and two sisters. He is very fond of younger sisters and he is planning to send them to New Delhi for higher studies. 8 INTRODUCING 100 SOOCHNAPRENEUR Alamgir proudly introduces himself as a budding rural entrepreneur. He has completed his education till Class 12th. In his family are his parents, two brothers and one sister. His father is a farmer and mother is a home maker. Coming from a rural background from a remote area in Bihar, there have not been much job opportunities for the local youth. Alamgir wanted to study further but due to his family’s poor economic condition he could not continue his studies. He assisted his ALAMGIR ALAM father in farming activities for some time, but wanted to do something different. 21 YEARS He wanted to remain close to his home for work. Getting associated with the Kangli Village, Sikta Block, SoochnaPreneur programme has proved West Champaran, Bihar quite beneficial for him as he can make a living for himself without going far away from home and also get an opportunity to serve the people around him. When asked about what is the best thing he likes about being a SoochnaPreneur he says that he has been able to gain respect for the work he has been doing for his community. Watching movies is his favorite hobby and he is a big fan of actor Aamir Khan. PAGE 9 Anil’s village is located in one of the most backward areas in Lauriya block of West Champaran district in Bihar. After he started his Soochna Seva Kendra, he started receiving complaints from his community members, largely vabout the errors made in their identity documents. This was a big hindrance for them in availing the benefits under various government schemes. To change the status quo, Anil has coordinated several camps in close association ANIL KUMAR with concerned government officials to correct errors in their identity 24 YEARS documents. Since then, many community members, who felt handicapped Telpur Village, Lauriya earlier, were able to apply for welfare Block, West Champaran, schemes and avail the benefits. Anil Bihar has completed his graduation and he wants to qualify Civil Services exam. Working as a SoochnaPreneur has been helping him expand his understanding about governance challenges around entitlements. In his free time he likes reading on politics. 10 INTRODUCING 100 SOOCHNAPRENEUR Anjali is a feminist. She believes her biggest achievement in life was when she stopped a child marriage in her village. She is just 25 years old and has already set up 4-5 SHGs in her village, promoting financial independence among women folks. She is also actively involved in several social activities and has played a pivotal role in introducing latest technologies to the farmers through an NGO. As a SoochnaPreneur she is promoting digital literacy in her ANJALI KUMAR community through a Soochna Seva Kendra and has been mobilising the 25 YEARS villagers about their entitlements and rights. She feels that the poor can be Narayan Soso Village, empowered at a faster pace through the Angara Block, Ranchi, medium of Internet. She says technology Jharkhand is changing the way we communicate and express ourselves. She loves listening to old sings and her favorite singer is Kishore Kumar. She wants to be successful in life so that it compels others to change the perception that women should be confined to their households. PAGE 11 Arbab is quite direct in his approach. He means what he says and keeps his speech straight and honest. In his childhood, his father faced a lot of problems due to his piling debts. He has seen his father struggle with his finances which led to violent domestic problems in his family. That experience changed Arbab forever. He decided to work for his community people who are stuck under the weight of debt. He is trying to help tham avail employment opportunities through ARBAB KHAN Soochna Seva Kendra so that everyone gets a fair chance to earn and pay back 23 YEARS their debt which is holding them captive. Before joining SoochnaPreneur Arbab Sedwa Panchayat, Dhanau was running a successful e-Mitra centre Block, Barmer, Rajasthan and is an SBI Banking Correspondent. Sedwa, being a remote area, has very few bank branches and ATMs, and he has played an instrumental role in providing banking services at the doorsteps. Right from an early age Arti has understood the importance of being independent. She has done her education till Class 12th. Unfortunately she had to discontinue her education as she was married off very young into an agricultural family. One day her friend’s mother informed her about SoochnaPreneur. The opportunity of becoming an entrepreneur filled her with excitement. The thought that she could contribute to her family’s ARTI TOPPO earnings’ gave her more confidence. Her husband was also very supportive of her 28 YEARS becoming a SoochnaPreneur and helped her at every step. As a Soochnapreneur Kurgi Panchayat, Bero she likes helping the beneficiaries in Block, Ranchi, Jharkhand availing benefits of various government schemes and providing them with digital services.