On January 5-6th 2017,district level training has been conducted for SoochnaPreneurs (SPs) unit in Orissa, Barpali.

A two-day workshop for newly recruited SoochnaPreneurs was conducted in Barpali block in Orissa, from 5th to 6th January, 2017.  The Barpali workshop impetus was to reinforce the entrepreneurial skills sets and instill desired behaviour and attitude changes in SPs for enhanced productivity at work. One of the key objectives of the workshop was to design the effective mechanism of carrying out SoochnaPreneur project activities. The DEF trainers (Vahid and Maroof) shared the project guidelines for managing business model and deliver best results on it.

Total, 10 SPs attended the workshop and were aligned to the long-term vision and mission of the project spirit with the community empowerment at its core.

Participants were given hands-on training on SoochnaPreneur MIS and its internal controls. The SPs learned to fill its mandatory fields, beneficiaries’ details and Scheme specifics required to register a beneficiary on the database. Just for a test run, SPs practiced MIS by registering few beneficiary accounts and were liberated from all their hesitation of using it in future.  The SoochnaPreneurs were clarified that beneficiary registration process will be considered complete only when they will submit the application forms in the block office. The trainers also discussed the revived rate-list of scheme entitlements and digital services to be charged from beneficiaries’.

SPs were assigned to carry out a market survey designed by the think-tank at DEF head office. The survey will help SPs in assessing opportunities in market and customer mapping. It will pave the way for SPs in reaching out to the potential consumers and understand their needs and wants. The survey findings will not only help shape monthly revenue targets for 2017 but also measure the market responsiveness against information consumption. The survey data will also help SPs to identify the perfect influencers – local Ngos, competitors and government policies – for SPs business growth in their respective areas of operation.

The financial implications to run SoochnaPreneur franchise was also discussed in detail including the monthly revenue flow expected from a SP. A WhatsApp group of SP team was created to connect, share and receive the work related messages among the SPs unit in Orissa.