Amity University training business development support providers in West Bengal

KOLKATA: Amity University is training 15 Business Development Support Providers (BDSPs) of One-Stop Facility (OSF) in West Bengal under the state rural livelihood mission in association with the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), the government of India and the World Bank, the private higher educational institution said in a statement on Wednesday. These OSFs are spread in 11 districts of the state and the training will be over by the end of August 2023, a spokesperson of the university said when contacted.

The OSF centres will provide business development services to existing entrepreneurs in order to enable them to evaluate business proposals, identify the support requirement and provide all kinds of support and assistance for setting up their enterprise, the statement said. National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), partly aided by the World Bank, aims at creating institutional platforms for the rural poor, enabling them to increase household income. It has set up Self Help Groups (SHGs), which have been provided capitalization support. As these enterprises grow, they need finance and handholding support. Hence One-Stop Facility (OSF) centres have been set up at the sub-district level to provide professional business development services to nano-enterprises.

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State Mission Director and CEO of West Bengal State Rural Livelihood Mission (WBSRLM) Smita Pandey, said, “We are extremely glad to partner with Amity University for conducting the training programmes in various districts of West Bengal. "This collaboration will be highly beneficial as the West Bengal State Rural Livelihoods Mission aims at creating efficient and effective institutional platforms of the rural poor, enabling them to increase their household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial and public services..." she said.

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Vice-chancellor, Amity University, Kolkata Dr Sanjay Kumar averred, “This is a very prestigious project for us and we are proud to be associated with two highly-reputed organizations, Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and World Bank, to work towards making the rural population of West Bengal self-reliant and self-sufficient.