Bhubaneswar: Tapu Mandal knew a lot about clothing. Having spent the better part of his grown-up life working in garment factories in New Delhi and Tamil Nadu, he knew the job inside out. But when he decided to break out on his own, funds crunch came in the way. However, thanks to Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust ( BYST ), a non-profit organisation, the 29-year-old from Pitamahal village of Rayagada district is now the proud owner of a garment factory which has an annual turnover of Rs 21 lakh and employs nine people in production and marketing.Like Mandal, there are many from rural and slum areas who BYST helped turn into successful entrepreneurs.On Monday, BYST will award the successful entrepreneurs at a glittering ceremony in Bhubaneswar. Vice-president Venkaiah Naidu will grace the event.Lakshmi V Venkatesan, founding and managing trustee of BYST, said her trust has created 700 entrepreneurs in Rayagada and Jajpur districts. “The unique thing of the project is mentoring. We have a pool of 5,000 highly qualified mentors across the country to help youths start their own business. We plan to increase the number of mentors to 20,000,” she said.Talking about the turnaround in his life, Mandal said while working in the garment factories of New Delhi and Tamil Nadu from 2004 to 2013, he learnt a lot about stitching clothes.In 2013, having made some money, he decided to return to his village where he started selling clothes with his own designs. But he needed more money to expand his business. So he took a loan from a private money lender in the village and bought three sewing machines. The venture failed to take off owing to lack of marketing and infrastructure support.Mandal turned to the banks for loan, but failed to secure one. It was then that he heard about BYST. The non-profit organisation in partnership with JK Paper Limited, was running a mentorship programme to nurture grampreneurs (entrepreneurs from the grass-roots level, primarily from rural and slums areas) in Rayagada. Mandal attended a training session and BYST engaged a mentor Rajesh Kumar Padhi, the regional director of Centurion University, to hone Mandal’s skills and help him start his business.“I helped him get a bank loan of Rs 5 lakh and training from BYST. He took up the challenge and started his business. Now his annual turnover is Rs 21 lakh. He has appointed nine people in production and marketing. Our next target is to reach an annual turnover of Rs 1 crore,” Padhi said.Sanjukta Das (35) of Jajpur was in a state of despair when her husband fell ill. Suddenly, it came down upon Das to take care of her four daughters and in-laws. She started making badi (lentil dumplings) to earn money. But Rs 2000 per month was not enough to sustain the family’s needs. She needed more money to expand her business. With the help of BYST and Tata Steel, Das not only got a bank loan but also requisite training to start her own business.“Within two years I earned a good amount of money. Now I have three others helping me in my unit. Today, our annual turnover is Rs 11 lakh. I am providing training to other women in the village as well,” Das said.

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