Management Development Programme for Rural Enterprises

RuTAG Objectives

• RuTAG is a continuously developing science and technology group incorporating Government agencies, NGOs, researchers and academicians with a goal to provide innovative interventions in rural sector of enterprises of the country for such systems that have been developed already to a certain stage and identified for further improvements.
• The aim of RuTAG is to upgrade rural systems to most efficient levels for boosting the rural economy.
• RuTAG will identify new areas for improvement in the rural sector and provide the science and technological inputs wherever required.

RuTAG Approach

• At RuTAG (IIT Delhi) we are networking with various NGOs working as rural enterprises or are providing benefit for the rural economy in some way or another. Some of them are small scale rural enterprises, educational institutes, training centers, textiles and handlooms.
• Moreover, we are networking with R & D institutions, financial institutions and NGOs to identify, formulate suitable project proposals so that these can be funded under RuTAG grant and further these funded projects are monitored for more initiatives.

Workshop/ Training (Management Development Program)

Many ventures are started by the rural people at different parts of the country. Apart from the efforts in incubation to upliftment of an enterprise its very important to train these incumbent units technologically so that these could create value in their ventures.

Seeking the need of the rural enterprises a management development program was organized by the RuTAG, IIT Delhi on November 10-18, 2011with the help of Government of India.

Many NGOs/ Enterprises participated in this program to get the cutting edge advantage so that they can manage the functioning units properly in an efficient and effective manner.

Regular sessions on different aspects of running a successful enterprise with the field visits made this training program scintillating.

Speakers from different specialization areas shared their experiences in tackling the emerging problems in front of the rural enterprises and inspired the participants to take up challenges in establishing and successfully running the rural enterprises.

Objectives achieved from the management development program (MDP)

• The participants got a good idea of what is a rural enterprise; how they can initiate, get facilitation and support from various sources; the challenges they can expect and approaches of possible solutions. They learnt about this from academicians, as also successful leaders in the respective fields.
• The participants got at least an introductory exposure to the theory of various practices of sound techno management such as Operations, financial, Marketing, Information Technology, Human Resource, Appropriate technology in rural sector, etc.
• Since effectively managing operations is probably one of the biggest challenges of rural enterprise, the emphasis was on the operations aspect, i.e.,  supply chains, cost cutting, operations, day to day management, quality, maintenance etc.
• The participants got an understanding of the types of decisions involved at strategic, tactical and operational levels in rural enterprises and also the complexities/uncertainties associated with such decisions.
• Seeing the experiencing is believing: so, the participants
• Accessed to experiences of and from successful entrepreneurs and leaders in this field
• Direct experience through guided field visits and laboratories.

A 9 days program was organized that took the participants through a logical sequence, one that would be natural for someone interested in being a competent rural entrepreneur.

Different Modules of MDP

Two modules were scheduled which are briefed as below:

Module1:

• Basics of NGO: Who are the NGOSs, their working style etc.
• Basics of starting a rural enterprise: opportunity, challenges, support structure, regulatory framework.
• Human Resource Management, Sustainable resources
• Focus on Technology choice, Technology Management, and Innovative technologies for indigenous development
• Basic accounting and Financial Management

Module 2:

• Operations and Project Management, Marketing Management
• Application of Engineering/Technology in rural enterprises
• Learning through live examples (case studies, field trips, simulation/software exercise etc.).

List of participants

Conclusion

This 9 days expedition was a perfect marriage between technology and management in Indian rural development initiatives. The distinguished participants from all over the country tapped through colors of techno-managerial mind-storming. The symbiosis between participants and RuTAG has enriched during the journey. This assimilation of extra oxygen in the heart of young rural-entrepreneurs is going to metabolise the rural development of India.

The sessions were pre-customized to align with the expectation of the participants through an interactive session with the participants. The technical sessions was begun with sustainable development issues in rural estate and discussion on pros and cons of renewable energies. Throughout the program the participants were catered with different flavor of management sciences like operations management, supply chain management, human resource issues; as well as they were interfaced with promising technology development sailed by Department of Mechanical Engineering and Center for rural development and technology, IIT Delhi. Though the objective of this program was set to initiate rural entrepreneurship, but the need of a context-based technical session were frequently felt during the interaction and hence it was addressed.The mélange has dawned a new journey with young Indian Entrepreneurs and IIT Delhi, the cradle of world class engineers and managers