The desire to achieve a high level of efficiency in small enterprises has become a mission of my life. Ayurveda, a traditional Hindu system of medicine, has stressed that bodily health rests upon a holistic view of the human body. Very often small enterprises lack this insight and what happens in most cases is that we tend to miss tahe woods for the tree. A healthy enterprise is able to synergise the strengths of its manpower and material and monetary resources to ensure effective performance.

In management jargon the health of an enterprise is gauged using 5Ms –manpower, materials, machines, methods and money. Out of the 5Ms,materials, machines and money are “inorganic” resources and these can be bought or borrowed. Manpower and Methods, on the other hand, need to be cultivated and curated over a period of time. The life of an enterprise is determined by the ability to cultivate, curate and encourage innovative thinking at all times.

According to Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises there were about 510.57* Lakh working enterprises in India employing about 1171* lakh people during 2014-15. A large majority of these people have never been trained for the job they perform. They work either as contract labour or on daily wages. Many of them do the same job for most part of their lifetime. In such a system there is very little scope for upward mobility and the value chain is characterised by high degree of stagnation and rigidity. The mind-set of a vast majority of business owners is ridden with scepticism. They often refrain from providing quality training because they fear that employees are not reliable when it comes to long term commitment. This acts as a major deterrent to skill upgradation. The alternative of a cheaper resource is always a lucrative one, especially when one fears losing employees to the next door neighbour. I am of the opinion that workforce of India at grass root level is in need of serious attention. A relook at the challenges they face will help improve identification of skilling requirements, preparation of the content and ensure adoption of effective delivery methods. In addition to this, we need to mobilise a huge force of training resources, create a credible monitoring mechanism and most importantly do this with clinical precision. There will obviously be mid-course corrections which have to be carried out in a planned and phased out manner at an all India level. I am certain that with such precision and focus on productivity at molecular level, we will see a four-fold impact:

• It will increase throughput of Industries

• It will Improve quality and quantity of exports

• Improve the fiscal situation

• It will have a direct impact on the quality of life

This is what allowed me to start eGrowth@Biz. eGrowth@Biz is a modern business networking platform aimed at Small and Medium Enterprises. Three pillars of eGrowth@Biz are–

• COLLABORATION – The entrepreneurs are encouraged to communicate among themselves. We leverage social media, informal meetings and events to bring them together. In effect we are building a Trust Network

• EXCELLENCE – eGrowth plays an active role in creating workshops, trainings etc We leverage modern technology to deliver Learning & Development in the most cost effective manner.

• OPPORTUNITIES – We leverage the Trust Network and Integrated Commerce platforms to create opportunities for growth.

We also keep on looking for products and solutions which help to increase productivity of the organization. Effectively, while the entrepreneur takes care of his business, eGrowth is the support system for him to conduct his business with ease and grace.