Financial Literacy & Setting up Small Businesses with Limited Capital

The event on financial literacy and small business set-ups aimed at fostering essential knowledge and information among the self-help groups and local communities (especially women) in the selected villages of the Baruipur region. Specifically, the event comprised interactive sessions by Dr. A. Bandopadhyay and Dr. G. Roy (Faculty members, IMI Kolkata). These experts hold a lot of experience in mentoring SME businesses to achieve their desired business goals. The sessions saw participation from 48 women SHG members. During the discussions, participants expressed a strong interest in learning about government schemes, networking opportunities, investment options, and possibilities for securing bank loans to help nurture their businesses. The experts addressed the queries of the participants and shared the necessary information about financial inclusion in the current landscape. Overall, the workshop was successful in meeting its objective of generating much-needed awareness as well as empowering the local communities to explore alternate revenue streams through running small businesses. The participants were provided with certificates for successfully attending the workshop. Further, the UBA Cell team of IMI Kolkata (both faculty and student members) also visited some shops run by the women SHGs in the nearby locality.