NGOs, Social Networking and Entrepreneurship Development at the Grassroots

Abstract

These days 'private entrepreneurship' is a cynosure. The liberalised economic world order and the advances in sciences and technology have not only expanded the operational reach of entrepreneurs beyond national boundaries for wealth maximisation but even engendered 'entrepreneurism' in education, medicine, law, media, architecture, engineering, social work and others. Curiously, the withdrawal of the State, the guarantor of equity and poverty alleviation for the masses, has offered more space than ever before for the NGOs led by some well-meaning 'social entrepreneurs' to try out cost-effective solutions against poverty and unemployment. Rural Development and Self-employment Training Institutes (RUDESTIs) network, sponsored by a temple trust and two nationalised Banks, shows that socially embedded institutions are the better service-delivery agents in the promotion of 'small and micro enterprises' that take care of several socio-economic and political issues that underpin youth unemployment.