Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) organized a one day workshop on ‘Multi-stakeholder Consultation on CSR and Social Enterprises’ recently at Anand, Gujarat, in which Vamnicom Director Dr Hema Yadav spoke on the role of CSR funding on the viability of cooperatives especially for Primary Agriculture Credit Co-ops (PACCs).
Yadav also mentioned the new centre at Vamnicom, CED (Centre of entrepreneurship development) . The centre is working to create an enabling eco-system to encourage entrepreneurship and the business of co-op societies.
“The centre also plans to work on the concept of “Co-op Hub” for innovation, entrepreneurship, skilling through partnership and collaboration with the government. academic institutions and development organizations”, she said.
She further said that this is also a step to develop entrepreneurship at VAMNICOM and encourage youth in cooperation. Cooperatives as social enterprises (CSE) with the funding of CSR will provide a business model, which is based on the cooperative principle of community: Participation and mutuality in sharing knowledge and network relationships to support and take mutual decisions.
The workshop was mainly held to deliberate on CSR Amendment 2021, how CSR funds can support social enterprises and what are the regulatory challenges?
On the occasion, NDDB Chairman Meenesh Shah said, “India lives in its villages. The importance of the social enterprises set up by Dr Kurien is even more profound now.”
Dhanuka, Group Chairman, Ram Gopal Agarwal said, “Institutions like IRMA need to find ways to benefit farmers. Market integration, agri-inputs, water usage all need to evolve.
Dr Manisha Paliwal, Professor, VAMNICOM also attended the workshop.