CII and Entrepreneurship Development Institute team up to create more entrepreneurs

It was signed in the presence of Mr. Mahabir Prasad, Minister of Small Scale Industries and Agro and Rural Industries.

As per the memorandum, CII will fund the training of potential entrepreneurs, while EDI will carry out the training and facilitate enterprise establishment. The training program is targeted to commence from May 2007. According to press CII press release the programme will be of 12 week and to begin with 200 trainers would be carried at seven locations namely, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Lucknow, Pune, Guwahati, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

The MoU between CII and EDI is in accordance with CIIs Affirmative Action Plan for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the press release stated. Dr. Dinesh Awasthi, Director, EDI and Lt Gen (Retd) S S Mehta, Director General, CII signed the MoU in the presence of many senior officials from the Ministry of Small Scale Industries.

The training would be carried out in three phases. It will include support for obtaining finances from financial institutions like IDBI, and others as well as guidance in starting the business. According to press release CII would appoint mentors who would provide opportunity to the trained entrepreneurs to create backward and forward linkages with the CII member companies. Mr. Mahabir Prasad extended the Ministrys full support to the task undertaken and expressed that small steps would set examples for others, and create opportunities for greater development. Lt Gen (Retd) S S Mehta said that the project between EDI and CII is one of the many programs that CII with its member companies is progressing upon in accordance with the Affirmative Action Plan.

Both EDI and CII are not not-for-profit organisation. The Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) is an autonomous body, set up in 1983. It offers one-year programmes like Post Graduate Diploma in Business Entrepreneurship and Management (PGDBEM), Post Graduate Diploma in Management of Non-Government Organisations (PGDMN) and open learning Diploma in Business Entrepreneurship.

CII business association was founded over 111 years ago. It is a non-government industry led and industry-managed organisation, playing a proactive role in Indias development process. It works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the growth of industry in India, partnering industry and government alike through advisory and consultative processes.