SERP launches Rs.12.66 crore fund to boost rural entrepreneurship

SERP, in partnership with TBIS BITS Pilani Hyderabad, T-Hub and WE Hub, has launched a Rs.12.66 crore Challenge Fund to support 300 women and youth entrepreneurs across Telangana under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission Incubator Programme.

Hyderabad: The Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), in collaboration with TBIS BITS Pilani Hyderabad, T-Hub and WE Hub, has launched a Rs.12.66 crore Challenge Fund to accelerate rural entrepreneurship, with a focused emphasis on women and youth-led enterprises at the grassroots level. The Challenge Fund, backed by the Ministry of Rural Development, is structured to support 300 women and young entrepreneurs through targeted institutional support.

According to a press release, this fund aims to transition 65 lakh SHG women from microfinance participation to formal entrepreneurship and scalable venture creation. Applications for enterprises from manufacturing, food processing, agri-allied enterprises, services, handicrafts and emerging sectors will open on March 8, reflecting the spirit of International Women’s Day. The programme will be implemented across all 33 districts of Telangana through a phased, decentralised outreach model leveraging SERP’s district and block-level institutional network, the release said.

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Anchored under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) Incubator Programme, the Challenge Fund will extend structured enterprise diagnostics, customised growth roadmaps, sector-specific mentoring, digital enablement, branding and market access support, as well as investment readiness and access-to-finance facilitation to entrepreneurs identified from self-help groups (SHGs). Under this framework, TBIS BITS Pilani will provide research and technical advisory support. T-Hub will leverage its founder network of 2,000 startups and global connections to drive mentorship and exposure, capital readiness preparation, market linkage integration and long-term enterprise formalisation.

Leveraging its statewide institutional partnerships and proven acceleration frameworks, WE Hub will anchor founder mobilisation and enterprise acceleration across districts, driving structured founder discovery, rigorous selection and sustained handholding support, the press release added.