The Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), in collaboration with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and with support from Cisco India’s Corporate Social Responsibility efforts, has initiated a comprehensive program aimed at training and mentoring nano and micro entrepreneurs across the state. This initiative aligns with the state’s flagship vision of ‘One Family, One Entrepreneur’ (OFOE), seeking to foster economic growth at the grassroots level.
BYST has partnered with the Andhra Pradesh government to scale and strengthen micro and nano enterprises, providing a range of support including counseling, training, mentoring, access to finance, and ongoing handholding. The collaboration, formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2026, was attended by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Minister of MSME, SERP, and NRI Empowerment and Relations, Kondapalli Srinivas.
The program is designed to encourage entrepreneurship at the household level and build robust local enterprise ecosystems. It is slated for implementation across key districts including Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Amaravati, Tirupati, Kadapa, and Anantapur. Over the next three years, BYST, with support from APMSME and Cisco India CSR, aims to build a network of 15,000 mentors and facilitate financial access for over 2,000 youth entrepreneurs.
The initiative includes a statewide ‘Business Idea Contest’ to identify and nurture approximately 5,000 youth-led business ideas. A ‘Yuva Vyaparitva Ratham’ or Youth Entrepreneurship Van will travel across these districts to raise awareness about the contest and encourage young individuals to submit their innovative business concepts. Shortlisted participants will receive specialized entrepreneurship training, structured mentoring, and assistance in accessing formal financial avenues, with the goal of transforming their ideas into viable and sustainable enterprises.
Recent outreach programs have already seen significant engagement. In Guntur and Palnadu districts, a large-scale grassroots entrepreneurship program targeted nearly 100 villages, aiming to nurture around 1,000 youth-led business ideas. Awareness campaigns conducted across various mandals and educational institutions witnessed participation from over 3,000 aspiring entrepreneurs and community members. As part of a Business Idea Contest, more than 360 ideas were collected from Pedakurapadu alone, contributing to the broader target.
Participants in these programs are also being sensitized to various Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) schemes, such as the Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Prime Minister Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME), and the PM Vishwakarma scheme. These schemes are intended to provide a financial cushion and support structure for new ventures.
According to data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for July–September 2025, Andhra Pradesh’s unemployment rate stood at 8.2 percent, which is significantly higher than the national average of 5.2 percent. This statistic underscores the critical need for initiatives like the one spearheaded by BYST and the state government to expand pathways for self-employment and entrepreneurship, thereby creating job creators rather than solely job seekers.
Lakshmi V. Venkatesan, Founding and Managing Trustee of BYST, emphasized that while young people across India possess abundant ideas and ambition, their entrepreneurial journeys often falter due to a lack of guidance, skills training, or access to finance. She stated that this initiative in Andhra Pradesh is designed to bridge these gaps by connecting young entrepreneurs with essential mentoring, learning opportunities, and financial pathways, enabling promising ideas to mature into sustainable enterprises that generate livelihoods and bolster local economies.
The collaboration represents a significant step toward strengthening Andhra Pradesh’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and empowering young individuals to transition from being job seekers to becoming job creators, contributing to the state’s economic development and inclusive growth.
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The Chenab Times News Desk
