The Entrepreneurship Development Fund set up in partnership with e27 has raised S$100,000 to help small business owners set up and expand their businesses. The fund received a shot in the arm from Rikvin, Singapore’s premier company registration website who generously offered to match every dollar by the fund. In all, Rikvin contributed S$50,000, taking the total amount raised for the fund to S$100,000.
The EDF has been set up by Milaap in partnership with e27 aims to assist entrepreneurs who are little known, untouched by technology or unfunded in India. It allows people to offer low-cost loans to these entrepreneurs, thereby enabling them to scale their business, improve their standards of living and generate employment for others as well.
The fund will help at least a 100 entrepreneurs typically involved in small businesses making garments, home and office accessories avail loans of S$800-1200 each. The loans will help them buy raw materials, sewing machines and hand tools to enable them to scale up production. This will also help them cut down costs, increase production and increase revenues by 8-10%. The entrepreneurs will repay the loan over a period of 24 months.
The fund received a shot in the arm from Rikvin, Singapore’s premier company registration website who generously offered to match every dollar by the fund. In all, Rikvin contributed S$50,000, taking the total amount raised for the fund to S$100,000.
Sourabh Sharma, our CEO says this is the first time that such a model of capital raising – a fund by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs – has been employed. Mr. Mohan Belani, Co-Founder, and Director of e27 said, “An entrepreneur’s journey is full of ups and downs and it isn’t always an easy one. We hope that by initiating this fundraiser, we can encourage more lenders to see the value of Milaap’s loan model and that a larger positive change can be effected.”
Rikvin urges its clients to be a part of the fundraising too. “Every gesture and dollar counts. The funds are disbursed as a loan, not a donation. This means that 100% of your contribution comes back to you at the end of 24 months. Even if you cannot loan any funds at this point, we would appreciate it if you spread the word and share this initiative with your loved ones,” said Mr. Bakhda.
For Milaap, having a company like Rikvin on board helps reach out to a lot more people and encourage them to help these entrepreneurs and thus increase the number of people who will ultimately benefit. We hope this will inspire other entrepreneurs who might want to do this as part of their own Corporate Social Responsibility as well.
If you or your company interested in raising funds for Milaap as part of CSR, please write to feedback AT milaap.org with CSR in the Subject line.
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This post was originally published on Milaap.org as Milaap’s Entrepreneurship Development Fund raises S$100,000 for artisans.
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