Facebook partners with GAME to scale up rural entrepreneurship

Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and Facebook on Tuesday announced a partnership that aims to increase job creation and train entrepreneurs. According to a statement, this partnership is in line with Facebook's aim to equip five million people with digital and entrepreneurial skills by 2021.

GAME along with its partners will help small entrepreneurs build their businesses with the aid of digital platforms. The initiative will also help entrepreneurs collaborate, the statement said.

GAME and Facebook will begin with a project for local rural entrepreneurs. Phase one will be rolled out this year and will cover 10 states including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir, and Maharashtra among others.

The partnership will provide means towards making mass entrepreneurship aspirational, nurture entrepreneurial mindsets, convert job seekers to entrepreneurs, help single and micro-entrepreneurs grow, and enable women to succeed as mass entrepreneurs, the statement further said.

“Imagine the power of a platform that can bring together communities of artisan clusters, agri-entrepreneurs or homepreneurs in the thousands to learn, collaborate and succeed- the possibilities are boundless,” said Ravi Venkatesan, Founder, GAME.

“We believe that when you give women and youth the skills and technology to improve their lives, we can equip them to unlock economic and social value for themselves and their communities. Our partnership with GAME seeks to create these models and implementations in priority states,” said Ankhi Das, Public Policy Director, Facebook - India, South and Central Asia.