Micro Enterprise promotion and development is one of the significant strategies of Kudumbashree Mission to facilitate economic empowerment of the poor. The Mission developed specific strategies analyzing the requirements of enterprises. This constitutes trainings, partial financial support marketing support and hand holding support to the enterprises. These kinds of supports are applicable for both existing micro enterprises and new ones.

The Mission gives priority on the concept of Local Economic Development (LED) – local production, catering to local consumption to increase the economic activity within the local areas for micro enterprise development. In order to facilitate this concept we ensure the involvement of the community and LSGs to analyze the market demand and the development of products and services accordingly.

1. Micro Enterprises RME (Rural Micro Enterprises) and Yuvashree

Kudumbashree has been taking committed effort for poverty alleviation by creating micro enterprise opportunities to women through its strong community network. Kudumbashree provides General Orientation Training, Skill Training, Performance Improvement Training, Accounting & Bookkeeping Training etc etc will be given to potential beneficiaries who are willing to take up entrepreneurship.Currently 25,323 Kudumbashree women enterprises are running successfully in various areas of production, service and trade sectors. Out of that 15,232 enterprises are individual and 10,091 are group enterprises. Schemes under Kudumbashree Kudumbashree promotes micro enterprises under its RME and Yuvashree schemes.

RME (Rural Micro Enterprises) - The scheme supports both the individual and group enterprises started by women. The group enterprises may have 5 to 10 members.

Yuvashree - The Yuvasree group consists of both men and women in the age group 18 - 45. The subsidies provided for the individual and group enterprises in this scheme are the same as that of the RME scheme.

Financial Assistance and supporting system to Micro Enterprises - Kudumbashree provides various financial assistance such as Interest subsidy, Start up fund, Revolving fund, Technology fund, Technology Upgradation fund, Innovation Fund, Crisis Management fund, Second dose assistance etc..

MEC System - The Micro Enterprise Consultants are Grass root level human resource exclusively for livelihood development. MECs are molded in such a way that they can provide business development and counseling services to micro entrepreneurs.

Schemes under RME

1) Coastal Micro Enterprises - exclusive for coastal NHG members and their families to increase their livelihood standards. In this scheme Kudumbashree is providing capital subsidy to the beneficiaries to start Micro Enterprises.

2) Vulnerability Micro Enterprises (Prathyasha) - focus on the formation of microenterprises among vulnerable groups. Person who belongs to the category of Elderly, PWD, and Transgender, mothers of intellectually disabled children, widows, and victims can form Vulnerable ME.

3) Prathyasha Project - Prathyasha Scheme mainly focuses on microenterprise formation among vulnerable societies. The beneficiaries of the scheme include women who belong to the category of Mothers of Intellectually disabled / BUDS school children, transgenders, victims, widows, dependents of bedridden / severely ill persons, elderly, persons with disabilities etc.

2. Amrutham Nutrimix

Amrutham Nutrimix, which aims to deliver nutritional cereal-based powder mix as Take Home Rations (THR) to children between 6 months to 3 years of age through the ICDS in Kerala. From 2006 onwards Kudumbashree collaborates with the Social Welfare Department for the supply of Take Home Ration for Supplementary Nutrition in the Anganwadis in the State. The Amrutham Nutrimix is developed by the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) Kasaragod, Kerala. Its constituents are: wheat, soya, sugar, ground nuts and Bengal gram. Nutrimix Fortification is a collaborative project between the Social Justice Department, Kudumbashree and United Nations World Food Programme, which aims to deliver fortified Amrutham Nutrimix as Take Home Rations (THR) to children between 6 months to 3 years of age through the ICDS in Kerala.

Fortification is the practice of deliberately increasing the content of an essential micro nutrient, ie, vitamins and minerals in a food, so as to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply and provide a public health benefit with minimal risk to health. The Government of Kerala has decided to scale up the nutrimix fortification in the whole state by the year 2018. All nutrimix units will be equipped with all needed machinery and start the production of fortified nutrimix by November 2018.

3. K4 Care

Kudumbashree is launching K4 Care, a business model scheme as part of exploring the employment opportunities in the care economy and also to provide a wide range of services in certain areas such as geriatric care, bedside care, baby sitting, palliative care etc. We have earlier introduced ‘Harsham’ scheme in 2018 with the same concept and ensured the employment opportunity by imparting required training to geriatric care executives. Through Harsham scheme, 645 participants were given training initially but approximately 200 geriatric care executives only presently working in this sector.

Now in this second phase, through K4 Care Kudumbashree focuses on the business aspects and job opportunities in the care economy by providing various medical services at the comfort of the patient’s home. Their service includes home nursing and support. The major health care services are; nursing services, baby sitting, screening for risk factors and diseases, geriatric counselling, hospital bedside care, accompanying aged people for their medical check ups, support service like accompanying to hospital for regular health check up, banking, billing shopping assistance, physiotherapy and basic Yoga, pain and palliative care services (cancer), monitoring for Cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, recreational activities etc.

4. Inspire Insurance Project

Kudumbashree introduced INSPIRE (Insurance Scheme Promoting Industrious Resilient Enterprises), soon after the series of flood and pandemic attacks which had affected the lives of Kudumbashree Micro entrepreneurs severely. This intends to provide insurance coverage for Micro Enterprises in the Manufacturing and trading Sector and health insurance for Entrepreneurs in service Sectors. Subsidized Health Insurance coverage is provided to entrepreneurs in the service sector particularly those who have potential health and safety risks associated with their jobs namely Haritha Karma Sena Members, Construction Workers, Santhwanam Volunteers, and House Maids. More than 95% of the members enrolled in health insurance are Haritha Karma Sena members who are directly exposed to various hazards, including physical injuries, exposure to harmful substances, and ergonomic challenges.

5. PM FME

Prime Minister Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PM FME) scheme under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan with the aim to enhance the competitiveness of existing individual micro-enterprises in the unorganized segment of the food processing industry and promote formalization of the sector. The scheme to be implemented over a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25. The scheme has a special focus on supporting Groups engaged in Agri-food processing such as Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), Self Help Groups (SHGs) and Producers Cooperatives along their entire value chain. The component under PM FME for providing seed capital to SHGs would be implemented with the support of NRLM and its network of SRLMs operating at the state level. The PMFME scheme envisages financial support of Rs. 40,000 for working capital and purchase of small tools for each member of SHGs engaged in food processing activities.

6. Incubation Centers

Incubation Centers Kudumbashree in all its livelihood activities has a decisive strategy right from the selection of beneficiaries to monitoring of activities. In the case of capacity building, Kudumbashree provides various skill trainings, on- the - job trainings and Performance Improvement programmes based on the requirement. Entrepreneurs, after attending a pre-defined module based skill training, directly start enterprises and they are not getting proper practical experience in the area which they have chosen for entrepreneurship. Thus Mission developed a concept of Incubation centre which can provide a practical experience before entering into entrepreneurship. This will be beneficial not only for the potential entrepreneurs but also the enterprises which are being selected as Incubation centres. Mission gives priority to the concept of Local Economic Development (LED) – local production, catering to local consumption to increase the economic activity within the local areas for micro enterprise development. In order to facilitate this concept, we promote our own entrepreneurs having more than 5 years of experience as Skill providers and will establish 14 incubation centres.

7. Haritha Karma sena

Haritha Karma sena is a collaborative project in which Kudumbashree, Haritha Kerala Mission, Suchitwa Mission, Pollution Control Board, Clean Kerala Company .It is a professional team consisting of Green Technicians and Green Supervisors mainly Kudumbashree women who will be assigned with the responsibility of collection, transportation, processing and management of waste materials in association with respective LSGs. Haritha Karma Sena mainly focuses on the collection and management of non biodegradable wastes. The main purpose of this initiative is to keep Kerala Clean and Plastic free. Another major objective is to provide a sustainable income to the poor women through waste collection. More than 36,231 women are engaged in Haritha Karma sena activities.

8. Common Facility Centers

Kudumbashree Common Facility Centers is a consortium of Kudumbashree Entrepreneurs who will make the same kind of products. It is envisioned to form a consortium of enterprises by clustering them on the basis of the kind of the products they make. Mainly the production of apparel, and food products sectors are aimed at by launching the Common Facility Centers. The Common Facility Centers would act as a working area where the entrepreneurs from an area could make their products, pack it, and ensure their quality. Kudumbashree aims to identify all enterprises at the district level working in a similar sector and to start Common Facility Centers ensuring them enough support they need. Currently, 7 CFCs are functioning under Kudumbashree. It is proposed to start 5 Common Facility Centers in 5 different sectors.

9. Pravasi Bhadratha–PEARL (Pravasi Entrepreneurship Augmentation Reformation of livelihoods)

Covid 19 pandemic and the subsequent lock down, suspension of flights and other restrictions imposed by various countries across the globe had seriously affected the employment of the NRKs leaving them jobless and stuck in the state. Pravasi Bhadratha - PEARL is envisaged to address the weaker/low profile category of NRK returnees with less savings and income. Norka implemented this scheme through Kudumbasree Mission to address the targeted group with a sustainable livelihood. As per the Government order Norka will release Rupees 30 crores to Kudumbashree to provide financial assistance to NRKs. Financial assistance up to 75% of the project cost or Rs. 2 Lakh whichever is lesser will be sanctioned as an interest fee loan to Loan is to be repaid within 2 years (24 months) after the moratorium of 3 months. Through this till date 3342 PEARL enterprises have been formed and provided financial assistance.

10. Jal Jeevan Mission ISA

Kudumbashree has got an opportunity to function as the Implementing Support Agency of Jal Jeevan Mission being implemented by the water Resource department of Kerala. Kudumbashree has been selected as ISA in 228 panchayaths. The aim of ISA is to support the project Implementing Agencies who implement the projects as part of Jal Jeevan Mission. Kudumbashree employed 349 people for these activities. Kudumbashree will get about 45 crore rupees to complete the project within 18 months.

11. MERC / BRC / Employability Centers in all blocks

Micro Enterprise Resource Centers (MERCs) points out that continuous, focused handholding support of professionals will help to form sustainable Micro Enterprises. The MERC will act as employability centers in each block which links the potential employees with employers based on the labour data bank and skill database. In the last financial year Kudumbashree has started 13 MERCs in 13 districts. This year 30 MERCs in 30 blocks will be established and in the next year it is planning to establish MERC / Employability Centers in all blocks. In SVEP blocks BRCs are functioning as MERC.

12. SHE starts

Kudumbashree has started a subsidiary group of NHG called Auxiliary groups, which includes young women between 18 to 40 years of age. Auxiliary Groups were formed which allows the entry of other women members in the family under Kudumbashree umbrella and these members can also be part of various social and economic welfare programmes of the Mission. For ensuring economic empowerment of these Auxiliary Group members, in 2022-23 Kudumbashree has launched a new scheme called “She starts”. Under this scheme Kudumbashree provides handholding support to Auxiliary Group members to start enterprises. In 2024-25 our target is to start 10,000 Auxiliary Groups enterprises under this scheme.

13. Women Construction Groups:

Kudumbashree has identified the construction industry as the second largest and fastest growing sector and it has a huge potential in Kerala. The ongoing project LIFE (Livelihood Inclusion and Financial Empowerment) of Government of Kerala aims at construction of more than 5 lakh houses for the homeless people in the state within 4 years, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), and also various house construction schemes of Panchayats and Urban local bodies. In order to tap these opportunities in house construction, to assist poor families to complete construction of their houses in quick time, and to provide an income for the women enterprise groups, construction groups were encouraged and given training. As of today 288 women construction groups (Rural 257 groups, Urban – 31 groups) have been functioning across the state which has become a livelihood for 2376 members. These women are now recognized as women masons. They have been entrusted with 231 houses under Government housing schemes, in which they have completed 69 houses and 88 houses are under progress. Kudumbashree construction units at Trivandrum and Idukki received work orders for constructing roads and also a side wall construction of a school.

14. ARISE

As part of post flood activity for resurgent Kerala, Kudumbashree has initiated a skill campaign named ARISE. The aim of this campaign is to provide skill training to 50,000 candidates in the sectors like Plumbing, Electronic Repair, Electrical Work, Day Care, Housekeeping, carpentry, masonry, Agriculture Labour, Data Entry and Laundry & Ironing. The project envisages creating a team of multi task personnel skilled in multiple areas like Plumbing, Electronics repair, Electrical work, essential Carpentry and Masonry.

15. One Stop Facility Centre

OSF is envisaged as a business facilitation-cum-incubation center at the sub-district level to provide business development services to existing nano-enterprises on a growth track. It will also support a few new enterprises that have the potential to grow. Each OSF will support a minimum of two and maximum of four blocks. They will provide various supports like Access to technology and skills, Regulatory compliances, Marketing, Linkages with schemes of other Ministries and Departments, Other inputs like packaging etc to the enterprises on need basis.

16. Premium cafe

Premium cafe is the brand name for high-quality restaurants planned to launch by Kudumbashree Entrepreneurs that offer a more upscale and luxurious experience compared to a standard restaurant with a per day turnover of Rs. 50,000. These centers are expected to provide special cuisine, exceptional service, and elegant ambience to their customers.

17. Promotion of Clusters

This is an NRLM initiative that aims to promote and strengthen non-farm clusters. This approach will pave for combining efforts making use of synergies, and pooling resources to increase competitive advantage while sharing market risk. Development of sectoral cluster will primarily take place through Soft interventions including design development, quality assurance, enterprise creation, market development, financing, technology up gradation, skilling, promoting responsible business interventions, strengthening the local ecosystem, and Hard interventions like the creation of common facility centers (CFCs) / common production centers(CPCs) / common service centers (CSCs). Kudumbashree is planning to take up 5 projects namely Janakeeya Hotel, Haritha Karma Sena, Napkin Production Unit, Curry Powders / Flours, and Pickles.

18. Incubators - Support for Growth-Oriented Enterprises

NRLM has proposed to provide incubator support for growth-oriented enterprises. Incubator support is intended to build knowledge and support eco-system for supporting NHG women-owned enterprises in the manufacturing and services sector, demonstrating minimum economies of scale to engage with larger markets, become financially sustainable, generate local employment, and build models for replication and scalability. The objective of this initiative is to pilot strategies to scale up at least 150 existing women-owned / women-led growth-oriented enterprises.The total duration of the incubation component is for three years. Towards this Kudumbashree has selected IIMK LIVE (Indian Institute for Management - Kozhikode Laboratory for Innovation and Venturing and Entrepreneurship)as the Incubator.

19. Micro Enterprise Development (MED)

Micro Enterprise Development is a key component under Start up Village Entrepreneurship Programme (SVEP) a sub scheme of NRLM. The major aim of the project is to support SHG and their family members enterprises in the non-farm sector. Necessary handholding and grounding support can be provided along with financial support in terms of Community Investment Fund. As the programme is intended to support enterprises in selected blocks nearby SVEP blocks, Kudumbashree integrated the MED project with Micro Enterprise Resource Centers. This will help in easy inception and effective monitoring. Kudumbashree is planning to establish the MED project in 13 blocks selected for MERC.

20. Janakeeya Hotel

As part of the ‘Hunger Free Kerala’ project, Kudumbashree formed 1198 Janakeeya Hotels according to the local need and scope. These Janakeeya Hotels provide meals at Rs. 20/-. (The actual rate of each meal will be Rs. 30/- , and in this Rs. 10/- will be given as subsidy through Kudumbashree). This project is very helpful to people who live with very low income, such as daily wage workers, migrant laborers, lottery agents etc. 5047 Kudumbashree women find livelihood through this project. An average of 1,65,000 meals sold per day through this hotel network. Grading of Janakeeya Hotels were Conducted with the help of Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology and given 266 as A+, 359 as A, 285 as B and 185 as C Grade as per the government order, the subsidy has been stopped from August 11, 2023, as the threat of the Covid pandemic is no longer there and social life has returned to pre-Covid status. Regarding the rate of mid-day meals distributed from popular hotels in each district, the respective district planning committee can decide after discussion with the Kudumbashree District Mission.

21. Santhwanam

The entrepreneurs are trained in checking the height, body weight, body mass index, blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol of people they visit at home to check on their diseases.