Kashmir has a business plan

When 28 yearold Arifa Jan started her handicrafts business last year she got a lot of attention some flak much appreciation but not enough support Growing up in Srinagar Arifa was well aware of the wealth of indigenous crafts that the valley could boast of yet those around her constantly reminded her of the challenges of being an entrepreneur in the valley A woman working with the Business Alternatives for Peace Action and Reconstruction BAPAR an initiative that strives to find sustainable solutions to challenges faced by communities in conflict weaves fabric on handlooms It was after enrolling for an entrepreneurship programme at the Srinagarbased Craft Development Institute in 2009 that she acquired the skills and businesssense to run a successful company The only thing she needed now was the courage to stand up to her parents who were worried about how their conservative society would respond to a woman owning a business A year and a half later Arifa along with her business partners Mohammed Saleem Sofi and Farooq Amar Ganai oversees a team of 15 artisans including seven women Arifa chose the languishing art of Numdha a craft that works with pieces of pressed felt made of wool that originated in Yarkhand and is believed to be 175 years old The rugs are decorated with geometric designs and while the process is labourintensive Arifa chose it since it was a commonlyknown craft especially among the widows in Kashmir ldquoPeople say that the handicraft industry has market problems But in Kashmir the problem isnrsquot with the market itrsquos the product There are people manufacturing substandard Pashmina shawls and passing them off as authenticrdquo she rues ldquoOur Pashmina has a Geographical Indicator GI registration that helps a regional crafts with branding and keeps away fakesrdquo she says Her company Incredible Kashmiri Crafts has helped artisans of a dying trade make ends meet but she is now working on setting up a cooperative of womenonly artisans where the profits will go back to the group ldquoI was aided by Jammu amp Kashmir Bank who helped me pay the fees for my professional course and Gulshan Nanda an activist of the Craft Council of India who helped fund my Revival Numdha projectrdquo she says u00a0Arifa is not the only one Across the strifetorn valley young entrepreneurs are taking the help of corporate and nonprofit organisations to combat conservatism and skepticism and set up businesses The skyrsquos the limit Take the case of Portlandbased Mercy Corps which set up its functionaries in Jammu and Kashmir in 2006 The global aid agencyrsquos objective to help Indiarsquos most vulnerable communities confront their challenges and pull themselves from poverty has taken it to Darjeeling Gujarat and Kashmir Funded by the Scottish Governmentrsquos South Asia Development Programme the 30month Start Up Kashmir Youth Entrepreneur SKYE Development Project aims to catalyse a youthfocused startup ecosystem in Kashmir Arifa extreme left oversees the pressing of felt to prepare Numdha rugs The most recent initiative by SKYE includes a business plan competition where Kashmiri youth are encouraged to send in their ideas for a viable business from which a panel of experts will select 200 entries These 200 business ventures in fields such asu00a0agribusiness handicrafts tourism information technology IT enabled services amp business process outsourcing and green business will acquire guidance from the team at SKYE that will help them set up shop ldquoWe donrsquot provide direct monetary support but will be aiding them with redeemable vouchers For instance a voucher will connect them with predefined web developers who can help them set up a website to start up their business We will also provide them with relevant information regarding financial schemes available through government and private investors to acquire capitalrdquo says Zubair Ul Rehman Lone project officer of Business Development Services amp Youth Outreach SKYEu00a0 The project outreach began in March with an awareness campaign that reached out to 2500 participants in the age group of 1830 years across Jammu and Kashmir ldquoFor youth in Kashmir the concept of employment means a government job so our first task was to change this mindset and let them see entrepreneurship as a viable career option It was encouraging to see the level of participation and interest they showedrdquo says Loneu00a0The project also provided participants with publications heavy with statistics from surveys previously conducted in the region Business plans can be submitted online through the SKYE website or through drop boxes across 10 districts in the state Knitting a dream Jammu amp Kashmir Bank inaugurated its latest Rural SelfEmployment Training Institutes RESTI programme in Kupwara on May 2 with a 10day Skill Development Programme on Knitting with 30 participants The programme aims to provide skillbased training to rural Below Poverty Line persons and other youth for selfemployment Following these intensive shortterm programmes where industry experts are called on to teach participants are given an aptitude test and interested persons are provided with information about government schemes with subsidies that will help them start up their own business ventures Artisans work on the Revival Numdha project in Kashmir ldquoAt least 70 per cent of the trainees are from rural below the poverty line BPL category Proper weightage is also given to candidates belonging to weaker sections like SC ST minorities physically handicapped and women The age group is 18 to 40 years and trainees are illiterate or have limited education unemployed or working on wage basis for intermediaries in handicraft units Fifty per cent of our participants are womenrdquo says Layek Ahmad Jan executive Strategy amp Business Development Jammu amp Kashmir Bank Common problems faced by entrepreneurs in Jammu and Kashmir are inadequate awareness lack of institutes imparting training to potential entrepreneurs funding problems no access to power supply lack of proper communication channels inadequate marketing facilities competition outdated regulations lack of raw materials high cost of production etc says Layek Opportunity in conflict Some like retired major Vivek Garg toyed with the idea of helping rural entrepreneurs in Kashmir with their challenges since 2005 when he was posted in the valley After serving in the Indian army for 11 years Garg decided to start Business Alternatives for Peace Action and Reconstruction BAPAR an initiative that strives to find sustainable solutions to challenges faced by communities in conflict In June last year its first chapter was set up in Lilong in Manipur with 12 women who would weave fabric on handlooms ldquoThe culture of the place is such that all women know how to weave so the problem is not with the skill mdash itrsquos the fact that years of conflict have broken their market linkages The lack of opportunities leads the youth to join militancyrdquo says Garg After working with other communities in Nagaland in the northeast of India Garg along with cofounder Raashi Bhatia turned his attention to Kashmir where they worked with women artisans in villages in Baramulla ldquoThe situation in Kashmir is better than the northeast because of the infrastructure The local market is also productive because of tourism in the state Here the major problem is the radical society that doesnrsquot want women to work let alone run a businessrdquo he says Speaking with elders religious leaders and panchayat heads in these communities Garg realised the limitations of the onground situation and planned his working methods accordingly ldquoWhile working with handicrafts artisans I realised that the people are working very hard but middlemen are exploiting them and the profits arenrsquot trickling down to the communityrdquo explains the 32 yearold Delhi resident BAPARrsquos plan of action led them to form cooperative enterprises where women were in charge of the functioning and all profits were shared with the community ldquoIt was the talk of profits that drove the point home to the artisans In a quest to raise peoplersquos stakes in peace and development the first step is to raise personal stakes through enterprise and increase their incomes so living standard goes up and the cycle of development starts leading to peace We took the women artisans to Delhi and set up the raw material chain then let them handle the regional market on their ownrdquo says Garg Saying it with flowers Nusrat Jahan Ara was one of the first Kashmiri women entrepreneurs in 2000 After quitting her government job she decided to get into the business of cutflowers a relatively unexplored market at the time Today she is the president of a 2000strong JampK Flowers Association At a hitech facility in Pahalgam she grows flowers and holds the franchise Ferns and Petals in Srinagar ldquoWorking in Kashmir is difficult but you get used to it By Godrsquos grace I have a successful enterprise and am able to employ othersrdquo says Arau00a0ldquoThe reason external investors donrsquot want to invest in a conflict area is because they arenrsquot able to track their investment They arenrsquot able to have people onground who can do that so we step in to give them that sort of credibility that a venture will survive and prosperrdquo says Garg Perceptions of entrepreneurship Mercy Corps conducted survey with 1000 participants 100 from each of the 10 districts in Jammu and Kashmir aged between 18 to 30 years 57 men said they would prefer to be selfemployed 33 women said they would prefer to be selfemployed 59 said a business environment in Kashmir will improve by end of 2013 Facts courtesy of Mercy Corps Facts The state has a lsquoyouth bulgersquo which means that 71 per cent of the population is under the age of 35 years 48 per cent of the youth are unemployed Government jobs are perceived as lsquostablersquo since government officials are paid even when roads are barricaded and curfew is declared in the conflictdriven state private jobs are seen as lsquoriskyrsquo and unattainable for most youth Mercy Corps estimates that the 2008 unrest alone caused a loss of Rs 10885 cr for the state which amounts to 27 per cent of the statersquos gross domestic product Facts courtesy of Mercy Corpsu00a0