In 2020, as the COVID pandemic brought the world to a standstill, we faced unprecedented challenges in our work with women entrepreneurs in rural areas. The nationwide lockdown triggered massive reverse migration, with urban professionals suddenly unemployed and returning to their villages. This crisis prompted us to reimagine rural entrepreneurship: could these returning migrants transform their home communities by becoming “Grampreneurs” – village-level entrepreneurs creating local hubs of innovation?

The early days of the national lockdown revealed the extreme vulnerability of India’s migrant workers, with hundreds walking immense distances to return home. We recognized that addressing this crisis required tackling its root cause – the lack of local employment and income generation opportunities that force villagers to migrate for work in the first place.

Grampreneurs are enterprising, resolute individuals who leverage regional resources to create enterprises that benefit both themselves and their communities. Dhriiti championed this concept, working to seed Grampreneurs across India’s smallest and most remote districts. These village-based enterprises create sustainable livelihood opportunities and home-based businesses capable of producing products with global market potential.

Our campaign brought together diverse stakeholders to support Village and Township Enterprises (VTEs), triggering inclusive growth throughout India’s rural landscape. A key component was our fellowship program for young rural professionals working in district economies across Assam, Jharkhand, Manipur, Nagaland, and Odisha. This fellowship created opportunities to promote VTEs in district economies by engaging with women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs), strengthening their capacities, and providing hands-on guidance to help village enterprises grow.

The Seeders Fellowship was open to professionals from any organization. Each Seeder worked in their local block with 10 selected women’s SHGs, providing handholding support and delivering curriculum designed to help these groups advance to their next level of growth. Many of these enterprises primarily needed small inputs and regenerative capital to restart their businesses after the pandemic disruption.

We engaged 10 Seeders across three states. This approach represented an important decentralization of Dhriiti’s work and planted the seeds for our youth-led development initiatives through the concept of “entre-professionals.” By building local capacity, we ensured sustainability – these local Seeders could continue supporting their communities even when our direct involvement ended.