India is known for its large companies across manufacturing and technology, but what often goes unnoticed is that a large part of the employment in this country is actually driven by Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

MSMEs contribute to more than 30% of India's GDP, and 11 million of these are in fact very, very small. These comprise the segment of MSMEs known as nano entrepreneurs, with an annual turnover between ten lakhs and one crore.

On this episode of Decoding Impact, host Rathish Balakrishnan speaks with Priya Naik, Founder and CEO at Samhita Social Ventures, to discuss who are these nano entrepreneurs, what are their challenges, and how can the ecosystem catalyse their potential to become growth engines for the Indian economy.

Priya has two decades of experience in impact and entrepreneurship and has worked with International Finance Corporation, the Poverty Action Lab at MIT, and Arthur Andersen.

For more, follow Sattva Knowledge Institute on our Website⁠, Linkedin⁠, Instagram, and Twitter⁠.

Host: Rathish Balakrishnan | ⁠Linkedin | Twitter
Guest: Priya Naik | Linkedin
Producer: Meenakshi Iyer
Audio Engineer & Editor: Abhilash Raikar
Designer: Usha Sondhi Kundu

Content Sections:

0:00 - Decoding Impact Introduction
0:48 - Introduction to topic and guest
01:43 - Who are nano entrepreneurs?
03:02 - Sustainability and scale
06:12 - The challenges for nano entrepreneurs
14:02 - Overcoming challenges for nano entrepreneurs
22:08 - Tailoring for the nano entrepreneurs
24:33 - Market first or philanthropy first?
30:06 - Gender and entrepreneurship
35:52 - The growth curve for women entrepreneurs
42:36 - Formalisation of the marketplace
49:20 - Preparing nano entrepreneurs for success
53:20 - Growing and enabling the nano entrepreneurs ecosystem
59:00 - Summary and thanks

Roberto Barbolini

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