From Fire to Fertility: The Quiet Revolution Restoring Our Soil
Of the 7 entrepreneurs in India, only
1 is woman*
*Sixth Economic Census
48015
Women Entrepreneurs
27,704
Youth in Skilling
224,369
Lives Touched
50%
Annual Income
Udyogini's Impact
What We Do
Livelihood Development
Basket livelihoods from an entrepreneurship lens has been a key innovation for small scale farmers , particularly in improving the incomes. Often this approach requires holistic natural resources development & management strategy for instance - creation of water reservoirs or soil treatment .
Climate Change & Entrepreneurship
Erratic climatic conditions are affecting the livelihoods of women. Udyogini is creating climate focused entrepreneurship: regenerative agriculture, solar solutions and smart livelihoods to mitigate the challenge .
Skill Development
Udyogini is expanding its simplified but effective business management , financial literacy and business plan training to young people through Udyogini School of Entrepreneurship (USE).
Why Do We Do It
30 Years Taught as
Women have 3-4 hours a day to
spend on economic activities.
Women travel to markets twice a week to sell produce in distress for earning cash
NTFPs and other produce is not adequately value added to fetch premium price
Mobilizing women for aggregation and trading significantly improves their collective bargaining power and incomes
Women lack control on price and/or
little bargaining power for their produce
Women's labor work in economic activities is huge but they dont have access to incomes earned in these (eg, farming)
Most women prefer to earn incomes from labor work and not readily take entrepreneurial risks
Women more than men spend their incomes on the welfare of children and families-this helps in reducing generational baggage of poverty.
Blog
The empowerment and entrepreneurship of women are critical to achieving gender equality. Read about change through stories of transformation, articles, blog posts, and research findings. Follow some of the most remarkable achievements in tribal women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship, a site that receives little attention in the media, policy, and sector action. I guarantee that the success stories of rural women entrepreneurs will inspire you.
Empowering Women through Enterprise since 1992
Udyogini was established in 1992 in response to a World Bank initiative focused on women's economic empowerment—recognized as a pivotal step toward overall women empowerment—during the rise of microfinance and Self-Help Groups (SHGs). Our mission was to bridge a critical gap: enterprise training for women. From the outset, we aim to empower women by equipping them to become successful entrepreneurs.
In our early years, we worked through a Training of Trainers (ToT) model, supporting grassroots NGOs and reaching over a million women through the WEMTOP program. By the 2000s, we shifted to direct implementation of livelihood projects, especially in rural and tribal regions.
Udyogini became a pioneer in value chain-based models, focusing on forest produce, handicrafts, and agri-enterprises. Our holistic approach evolved to include skills training, market linkages, and financial inclusion, ensuring long-term impact.
Today, our methods integrate hands-on mentoring, industry partnerships, and digital tools, allowing us to expand across eight states and impact more than 200,000 women and their communities.
We continue to work at the intersection of women’s agency, economic resilience, and leadership, building pathways to dignity, opportunity, and self-reliance.
Get Involved
Partners
