VYAPAAR
EQUIPPING NANOPRENEURS TO CREATE MACRO-IMPACT.
We are designing interventions that help solve specific business challenges faced by nanopreneurs. Vyapaar is developing a support system so nanopreneurs can uplift their income, scale their businesses, take control of their destinies, and have self-belief to be able to take charge of their own life.
JUST RELEASED
Evaluation of Udhyam Initiative: A Study of Parinaam Vyapaaris by LEAD at Krea University
VISION:
For every entrepreneur to flourish economically & socially, with reduced barriers to opportunities.
Join us to help nanopreneurs scale & succeed
Be a part of an incredible and impactful story
Get to know the team
STORIES OF
IMPACT
Reshma Banu
Vyapaari
Reshma Banu was running a tailoring business along with tailoring classes for women in her community. With the help of the restarter fund, she purchased 3 used sewing machines. Since then she has employed 3 women in her business, and has more time to spend on her tailoring classes leading to an average daily income upliftment of INR 500
STORIES OF
IMPACT
Venkatesh
Vyapaari
Venkatesh used a coal ironing box and earned INR 400- 500 daily but his income increased 1.4x times after transitioning to the LPG ironing boxes as now he can iron more clothes. Finishing is perfect in the LPG iron box. He says ‘Customers used to be unhappy with us whenever their clothes got burnt due to coal. Now we do not have any such problems. Further, Coal has to be changed 4-5 times a day. This time can be saved if you use an LPG iron box. The best part of this iron box is that we can adjust the heat based on the type of clothes we are ironing. ‘
STORIES OF
IMPACT
Shiva
Vyapaari
Shiva ran a local laundry ironing business which earned him a profit of INR 300. With an #UdhyamiGrant of INR10,000, he built & implemented a new business plan. He added new products (vegetables & fruits) to his existing ironing business. This increased his profit margin 1.8x times!
STORIES OF
IMPACT
Satheesh
Vyapaari
Satheesh has been in the ironing business for the last 20 years in the same locality. Then Udhyam Vyapaar educated him about the benefits of the LPG iron-box. He says, “My work has become easy. Now customers are happy & satisfied, and I have benefitted from this. My hands used to become black because of working with coal and i used to end up staining the white clothes. The LPG iron box has solved this challenge too. Further, it took at least 20mins every time to heat the coal iron box, but the LPG iron box heats within 5 mins. I save time & customers are satisfied too.”
STORIES OF
IMPACT
K. Shiva
Vyapaari
K. Shiva has been in the ironing business for 20 years. After adopting LPG Iron Box himself, he volunteered to give demo to other vyapaaris and became an influencer in the community of isti-wallahs. Pre-COVID his income level increased 1.8x after the adoption of LPG iron-box. He plans to start a dry cleaning and laundry business once the pandemic situation eases.
STORIES OF
IMPACT
Sathya
Vyapaari
Sathya, a migrant from Tamil Nadu, runs an ironing business in Indira Nagar. She was the first entrepreneur to try the LPG-powered iron box under the coal-to-LPG initiative. Within a few months, she noticed the astounding impact of using the LPG iron box and hence bought a second LPG iron box for her husband who is also an ironing vyapaari. Post LPG adoption, the number of clothes ironed per day increased from 150 to 300 leading to an income upliftment. Her confidence grew manifold as she could iron delicate clothes without the risk of burning them with the cinder. Transforming to LPG iron box not only improved her productivity and confidence but also helped reduce the fuel consumption cost by almost 50%. Her success served as an inspiration to around 30 of her friends and family, who also adopted LPG Iron Box for their business.Sathya is but one example of the positive impact that a conversion from Coal to LPG has created, where story after story has shown similar results!
STORIES OF
IMPACT
Kavitha
Vyapaari
Kavitha hails from a family of istri-vendors. However she runs a beauty parlour. During the pandemic she started offering beauty services at home and took orders through whats app. She maintained hygiene and the customers started trusting her. With INR10,000 she stocked beauty products and hence in addition to services she also started selling beauty products.
STORIES OF
IMPACT
Anandi
Vyapaari
Anandi was a tailor pre-corona. Her business shut down. Making use of the cash grants by Udhyam Vyapaar in the first wave of COVID and some training sessions she had attended, she diversified to a new business. She rented a cart and started selling vegetables and flowers. She started home deliveries of groceries in addition to vegetables. She took orders for vegetables & groceries on whats app, buy groceries from grocery shops and door deliver. Later Udhyam Vyapaar enabled her to adopt UPI to avail Udhyami Loan.
PARTNER
TESTIMONIALS
Rubina Nafees Fatima
SAFA, CEO & Founder President
We have worked with udhyam on our EDP program for micro entrepreneurs from disadvantaged urban spaces with their own set of challenges. Their quick uptakes and willingness to customise to our needs is commendable. Their knowledge vertical is well developed and researched. We hope to continue working with them on more complex challenges as they come up.
PARTNER
TESTIMONIALS
Nikhil Banerjee
Co-founder, Supermoney
“The Udhyami program is a unique initiative to restore micro entrepreneurship in India post the pandemic and the early signs are highly impactful.”
PARTNER
TESTIMONIALS
Gayathri
Lead, Contribution Initiatives, Hyperverge
“As a leader in fintech innovation, at HyperVerge, we value a commitment to improving lives through enabling entrepreneurship and providing accessible credit services. As part of our Financial Inclusion programme, we’ve been attempting to build digital solutions to achieve this goal for income-poor target segments. On partnering with Udhyam, we realized they bring a wealth of on- ground experience, domain expertise in the social sector as well as a motivated team whose ideas perfectly complement our vision for social impact on a day to day basis. It’s a pleasure working with them.”
PARTNER
TESTIMONIALS
Chetan Mahanteshaiah
Founder, Havanaa
Working with Udhyam Vyapaar has been such an amazing experience, as we share similar values. The Udhyam Vyapaar team has not only helped thousands of ironing vyapaaris in Bengaluru but also enabled entrepreneurs like me to reach more vendors and create a positive impact on their lives. We are looking forward to building upon Udhyam's mission and reach more ironing vyaapris to help save the environment, safeguard their health and aid in income upliftment
PARTNER
TESTIMONIALS
Shailesh Dixit
Co-Founder, Gromor Finance
Working with Udhyam vyapaar on the coal to LPG project helped us in identifying an opportunity that not only was economically viable but also delivered social impact for the ironing community. We look forward to collaborating with Udhyam and continuing our work with this segment across regions.
PARTNER
TESTIMONIALS
Ram
Partner management , Futuristics Technotrade Services LLP
Working with Udhyam vyapaar on the coal to LPG project helped us in identifying a great business opportunity that delivers immense social impact for the ironing community. We look forward to collaborating with Udhyam and continuing our work with this segment across regions.
PARTNER
TESTIMONIALS
Irrana Rotte (Micro Entrepreneurship) & Sandeep Sabharwal (Impact Unit Leader for MEDP)
Deshpande Foundation
We appreciate the objective-driven approach of the entire team at Udhyam Vyapaar and their time-bound, outcome-driven attitude. The Founder of Udhyam, Mekin Maheshwari brings with him a rich experience as a founding team member and X-CPO of Flipkart and has a firsthand understanding of "Online markets & marketing"; a broader perspective of ME's development in the Indian context and hands-on attitude.
