From one family, one entrepreneur to one village, many enterprises

This article is authored by Lakshmi Venkataraman Venkatesan, founding and managing trustee, Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST).

India’s GDP is growing at 7.8% per annum, but growth alone is not enough as the larger test is whether it creates economic opportunity beyond urban and industrial centres. Around 9.32 crore small non-farm enterprises employing about 41.32 crore people. Yet creating enterprises is only the first step. As of January 2026, 6,789, or around 3.2% of the 2.12 lakh DPIIT-recognised startups were non-operational owing to either getting dissolved or struck off, and this figure is only rising.

GDP (Illustration: Abhimanyu Sinha)

Entrepreneurship policy, therefore, cannot stop at the level of registrations, trainings or loans sanctioned but it must ask whether enterprises survive, find markets, expand and become employment creators. Micro-enterprises rarely make headlines but create maximum jobs in villages and smaller towns. They need the same seriousness around access to finance, mentoring, markets and capability at least during the first three years of operation, for scaling up thus, creating further employment opportunities

This is the opportunity within Andhra Pradesh’s One Family, One Entrepreneur vision. It should go beyond creating one entrepreneur in every family by facilitating survival of the enterprises. One successful entrepreneur can create jobs, support suppliers and encourage other intermediatory businesses. That is how one family, one entrepreneur can evolve into one village, many enterprises.

There cannot be one entrepreneurship model for every district. Andhra Pradesh has strengths across agriculture including, agro and food processing, aquaculture, textiles, manufacturing and services, each supported by different enterprise networks.

An agricultural district can create opportunities in processing, packaging, storage and logistics taking care of the perishable produce. An aquaculture belt can support businesses around equipment, processing and cold chains. A textile cluster can generate enterprises in stitching, packaging, machinery maintenance and digital commerce especially for women workers.

The best ideas often come from people who understand their own communities, resources and markets. The objective, therefore, should be to build enterprise ecosystems around economic strengths. When connected businesses operate as a cluster within one geography, one becomes an employer, another a supplier, a third a service provider and a fourth a link to larger markets. Entrepreneurship then moves from self-employment to local economic development for the community as a whole. It also enables young people to find opportunity closer to home, reducing pressure to migrate for work.

A first-generation entrepreneur may have a good idea and access to a loan, but still struggle with working capital cycle, sourcing of raw material, e-commerce on boarding, pricing, customer acquisition, compliance or financial management, etc. Finance must therefore be combined with most importantly mentoring, training, market access and continued business support, particularly during the first three years. A loan can start an enterprise; a mentor can guide the entrepreneur to take the management decisions that determine its survival trajectory.

We have already seen this in Mangalagiri, Balimidi Aruna started making traditional Andhra sweets with ₹15,000 of her own family savings and with enterprise training, mentoring and support to access formal finance, her business has grown to an annual turnover of ₹75 lakh. It now employs 14 women throughout the year and up to 20 during festival seasons, while reaching markets beyond its immediate locality through her offline retail network. One entrepreneur is now creating livelihoods for several other women. That is the multiplier effect Andhra Pradesh should aim for.

Having worked with entrepreneurs through BYST for over three decades, I have repeatedly seen that access to credit becomes much more effective when it is combined with mentoring, training and continued business support. Across India, we have supported more than 72,000 Grampreneurs®, trained and accredited over 24,000 mentors and helped generate more than five lakh direct and indirect jobs.

No institution can build such an ecosystem alone. Government can create enabling policy and infrastructure. Banks can provide appropriate finance. Industry can contribute mentors, technology and market linkages. Educational institutions can strengthen skills, while grassroots organisations provide last-mile support.

But these institutions cannot continue to work separately and expect the entrepreneur to put the pieces together. For an entrepreneur, training, finance, mentoring, markets and compliance are part of one business journey.

States have traditionally competed to attract investment. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Goa emerged as top performers in NITI Aayog’s Investment Friendliness Index 2026, while Andhra Pradesh is among the frontrunners. Infrastructure and large investments matter, but investment attracted cannot be the only measure of competitiveness. States must also ask how many viable local entrepreneurs they create and how many sustainable jobs those enterprises generate.

Andhra Pradesh can connect local ideas with adequate finance, mentoring, markets and district level value chains. The real opportunity is not simply one entrepreneur in every family. It is to create conditions in which one entrepreneur leads to many enterprises, more local jobs and stronger district economies. That is how one family, one entrepreneur can become one village, many enterprises.

(The views expressed are personal)

This article is authored by Lakshmi Venkataraman Venkatesan, founding and managing trustee, Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST).