The fisheries sector in India has shown a sustained annual average growth rate of 8.61% for the last 8-year period. Hence the aquaculture value chain has significant potential to become a lucrative area for young aspiring entrepreneurs. However, it is a challenge for development agencies, governments to facilitate promotion of rural entrepreneurship in freshwater aquaculture. The major challenges are how to identify potential entrepreneurs in remote rural areas and how to build an ecosystem that supports nurturing and attracting identified entrepreneurs. Globally enterprise promotion suffers from a high failure rate. There is no definitive way to address the challenges, however there is high possibility of reducing failure rate by adopting a comprehensive and integrated approach, which includes steps such as awareness campaign, screening and selection etc. where social, behavioral, economical as well as psychological parameters are pillars of the process and framework. The intervention was initiated in Odisha and Assam state of India with the funding support from German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) facilitated by Indo German development cooperation project ‘Sustainable Aquaculture for Food and Livelihood’ (SAFAL) of German Development Co-operation (GIZ) in partnership with the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandries and Dairying. The initial roadmap was conceptualized through workshops by inviting relevant stakeholders including established entrepreneurs and others from the states. Based on the output of the discussions and recommendations the process was co-created and implemented in selected areas of the states with the support of implementing partners.
The approach includes 5 steps such as, sensitization, identification and selection, nurturing, pitching, mentoring and incubation) The screening was done for 1080 number of selected aspiring aqua entrepreneurs in the two Indian states of Odisha, Assam. Out of which only 2% have gone to the final step of the framework, who are further facilitated with incubation support.
Key Words: Enterprise Promotion, Value chain approach, Remote rural setting, Innovative approach, Ecosystem for incubation.