Ek Naya Aasmaan (ENA), meaning “A New Sky,” was one of Dhriiti’s pioneering programs that challenged prevailing educational mindsets at a time when entrepreneurship was largely overlooked in favor of traditional employment paths. While business careers were often viewed with skepticism in mainstream educational institutions, we discovered that entrepreneurship found greater acceptance in NGO-run schools, remedial education centers, and government schools.

Launched as a collaborative initiative between Dhriiti and Youthreach, ENA received initial support from Alcatel-Lucent, USA, and later from Sir Ratan Tata Trust. The program was specifically designed to reach underprivileged youth in Delhi and the National Capital Region, particularly focusing on those in non-formal education systems. With limited or no formal education, these young people were typically excluded from respectable employment opportunities offering good compensation and decent work profiles.

Dhriiti’s vision through ENA was to democratize entrepreneurship—making it accessible to everyone, including girls who were often confined to their homes. We accomplished this by teaching fundamental entrepreneurship concepts through engaging games and interactive activities.

Running from April 2006 to March 2010, ENA reached over 2,500 young minds through partnerships with more than 25 grassroots NGOs. The program began with “trailer workshops” in communities, which led to the development of a customized entrepreneurship curriculum specifically designed for our target audience. This curriculum, delivered over 2-3 months at each location, featured simulation games, interactive sessions, audiovisual components, and numerous hands-on learning modules covering essential entrepreneurship skills. Each program culminated in a day-long market activity called “My Own Venture,” where participants established and operated their own enterprise for a day.

Our partnership with Youthreach was instrumental in connecting us with grassroots organizations, enabling us to train two cohorts of participants through these partnerships. This program marked the beginning of Dhriiti’s entrepreneurship mindset curriculum, which has since evolved into our core methodology.

The underlying principle driving ENA was our understanding that individuals with urgent existential needs, particularly those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, could more rapidly transform those needs into entrepreneurial opportunities due to their pressing circumstances.