Small Industries Development Bank of India [SIDBI] organised its 4th Edition of “Swavalamban Mela” from December 1st-5th 2023 at Amdavaad Hatt, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad-380 015
The Mela was inaugurated by Shri Ajay Patel, President – Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) on December 1, 2023, in the presence of Dr. Sunil Shukla – Director General, EDII, Shri Sanjay Gupta CGM, SIDBI, Shri Ashok Parikh – GM RBI, and Smt. Hirva Mamtora Regional Head of EXIM Bank, Ahmedabad.
Shri. Sudatta Mandal, Deputy Managing Director, SIDBI was the Chief Guest of the closing ceremony held on December 05, 2023. Shri Mandal interacted with some of the Artisans who participated in the Swavalamban Mela. During his interaction, he discussed in detail with the Artisans about their experience of attending such Melas organised by SIDBI and motivated them to adopt digital means to further expand their business and visibility. Shri Mandal briefed the Press about the objectives of organising such Swavalamban Melas by SIDBI under its Promotional & Developmental initiatives, which aim to empower nano and micro-Artisans by providing them free of cost a platform to showcase their products and utilize the opportunity to maximize their sales in the 5 days period. Shri Mandal felicitated 5 Artisans who were selected as ‘Role Models’ by an independent Committee on the basis of different pre-defined parameters with a voucher of 25,000/- each to enable them to utilize the amount for further expanding, their venture.
During the 5 days long Mela, SIDBI arranged various programmes viz.
(a) Holding of a session on various credit Schemes available for Artisans and Micro Enterprises by Bank of Baroda,
(b) Awareness and importance of Financial Literacy and inclusion by RBI
(c) Lecture on designing and value addition of products by NIFT
(d) creating awareness about importance of e-commerce and benefits of onboarding the ONDC platform for the artisans by SIDBI official.
Various cultural events were conducted in the evenings for the entertainment of public and Artisans. Overall, 146 Artisans (consisting of 92 women, 34 SC/ST and 15 Minority community) participated in the Swavalamban Mela representing most of the districts of Gujarat State and comprising from different segments of the society. Some of the Artisans from other States also participated.
