Among several benefits of promoting Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), sector’s role in nurturing entrepreneurship, innovation and productivity in an economy, urges stronger actions to thrust the sector to adopt a mega role. EDII continues to implement a various capacity-building and skill development programmes across the nation to promote and develop the MSME sector.
Over the last two months, under the Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programmes (ESDPs) scheme of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India, a total 895 programmes were conducted to create awareness about entrepreneurship and guide existing and aspiring entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. These programmes included 563 Entrepreneurship Awareness Programmes (EAPs), 75 Entrepreneurship Skill Development Programmes (ESDPs) and 257 Management Development Programmes (MDPs), benefiting over 35,800 beneficiaries.
In addition, 12 advanced training programmes were conducted in emerging domains such as Animation & Gamification, AI & Digital Transformation, Agro Processing, Mobile Application & Software Development, Packaging Technology, Data Driven Decision Making, Planning Budgeting and Forecasting, Export and International Trade, E-commerce, Conflict Management & Negotiation: Skills and Strategy and New Age Technologies for Customer Marketing. These programmes were organized across Assam, Gujarat, West Bengal, Mizoram and Odisha, reaching out over 264 participants. Furthermore, under the Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) in Maharashtra, EDII conducted a series of handholding programmes [under sponsorship support of the Maharashtra Small Scale Industries Development Corporation Ltd. (MSSIDC)]. 20 training programmes were organized in all, benefiting 1000 MSME entrepreneurs by enhancing their skills and knowledge for scalability and sustainability.
Enterprise Formalisation through Micro-Incubation under RAMP in Gujarat
MSMEs are the backbone of our economy and need to be handheld to play a centre stage role. Micro, small and medium entrepreneurs have to be engaged meaningfully to ensure their skill and competency building, alongside enhancing their awareness about schemes, policies and systemic rules that they can benefit from. Taking the onus of boosting the performance of MSMEs across states, EDII is implementing a micro-incubation programme, in Gujarat, under the Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) Programme of the Ministry of MSME, Government of India. The programme is designed to facilitate meaningful engagement between entrepreneurs and key stakeholders, including micro-enterprise communities, technology providers, financial institutions and government bodies. The initiative seeks to enable entrepreneurs to exchange insights, collaborate with peers and technical experts, strategically position their products in the market and get on-boarded on e-commerce platforms.
The networking and launch event for the micro-incubation initiative was held at the EDII, on March 12, 2026. The event marked the formal onboarding of micro-enterprises on the programme. They were introduced to the initiative and familiarised with the support ecosystem available under the RAMP programme. Ninety-five business owners from across different districts of Gujarat got enrolled. Discussions revolved around government schemes and enterprise development strategies. Detailed insights were provided on various components including GIFT (Green Investment and Financing for Transformation), ODR (Online Dispute Resolution), SPICE (Scheme for Promotion and Investment in Circular Economy) and TEAM (Trade Enablement and Marketing Initiative) to enhance market access and branding support for MSMEs.