The Hindu Business Line : Trust for young businessmen signs pact with IFC

Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), an NGO supporting young entrepreneurs through finance and mentoring, has signed a bi-lateral agreement with International Finance Corporation (IFC) for an initial grant of $0.5 million towards the trust's growth fund.

"This is a venture capital agreement of about $5 million, of which $0.5 million is the seed capital," said Ms Lakshmi Venkatesan, Founding Trustee and Executive Vice-President, BYST. The funding is expected to benefit about one lakh entrepreneurs, most of who are based in rural India, she said.

Mentors guidance

In Chennai for the inauguration of BYST's Mentor Development Programme (MDP), Ms Venkatesan said the organisation was looking at accrediting its mentors. Mentors are volunteers who guide entrepreneurs in their business. Most mentors are former industrialists with working knowledge of running a business.

Accreditation will give credibility and benchmark the organisation's programme, besides helping mentors reach out to other countries, said Ms Venkatesan. BYST has helped countries such as Sri Lanka and Mauritius in the past.

"Today, our mentors use their business know-how to help others. But in future they need to be trained to bridge the social, economic, cultural and communication gaps that exist between them and their mentored," she said.

BYST is in talks with an international organisation for the accreditation process, but Ms Venkatesan did not name the company.

Initiatives planned

BYST has planned three initiatives under the MDP - an online training programme, establishing mentor chapters across the country and setting up of a mentor development institute for research and training.

The six-hour long online training programme consists of seven modules covering topics such as skills of a mentor, mentor-entrepreneur relationship and business life cycle. BYST plans to start regional training institutes across the country.

CII support

At present, research and training happens mainly at the organisation's head office in New Delhi. BYST is supported by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and it is likely that the regional centres would come up at CII offices across the country, said Ms Venkatesan.

BYST's Chennai Mentor Chapter was inaugurated and Mr G. Olivannan, a mentor since 1994, took over as Chairman.

BYST has created 1,000 entrepreneurs and generated $10 million in wealth in India, until now. It has about 3,000 mentors presently and plans to increase this number to 30,000 in the next five years. It also plans to help about one lakh entrepreneurs in the next five years.

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