An Overview
I Create, Inc. is a non-profit 501c (3) organization dedicated to providing (a) Integrated Entrepreneurship Training and Creating Entrepreneurs as a solution to the pervasive unemployment problem among India's disadvantaged communities and (b) providing practical business skills for employability. I Create was born in the year 2000. In the past seven years, I Create has grown to become a National organization with Regional Centers in the East, West, North and South of India. In the East we have I Create, West Bengal, (ICWB) with offices in Kolkata, in the West, I Create, Gujarat, (ICG) with offices in Baroda, in the North, I Create, Rajasthan with offices in Jaipur and in the South, I Create, Karnataka, with offices in Bangalore.
Over the years, I Create has evolved to become much more than an entrepreneurship training organization. We now have an integrated entrepreneurship training program with emphasis on Empowerment. We have "adopted" villages and low-income urban areas in our different Regions. In these areas, either directly or in partnership with other organizations, in addition to entrepreneurship training, we provide mid-day meals or nutritious snacks to High School students in selected villages. In some villages, we hold health camps, tree planting festivals in barren schoolyards, and adult literacy classes. In one low income, urban area, we have recently started a pilot health project for women. In both, urban and rural areas we provide seed money to selected aspiring entrepreneurs who have taken the IC-NFTE entrepreneurship training.
I Create's partner in this most rewarding work is New York based NFTE (National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship.) NFTE has won several national and international awards, including the prestigious "golden Lamp Award," for its unique entrepreneurship training program. Rather than re-invent the wheel, I Create took NFTE's program and "Indianized" it.
An I Create culture has evolved in which everyone is equal and treated with respect regardless of their position or status. I Create does not believe in caste, race or religion. I create is totally apolitical. And above all, I Create is flexible and grows and evolves to meet the needs of the people it serves.
"Our program transforms street smarts into business smarts"
- Steve Mariotti, President, NFTE