I Create, Inc. - Regional Centers

The Team: I Create Gujarat

- Our Honorary Director, Dr. Shashi Kanta Tuteja
- Dr. Tuteja is a senior professor at M.S. University, Baroda. She was a participant in the first Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop conducted by ICG in 2002. Ever since, she has been actively involved with the activities of I Create. She is very committed to the empowerment of women and youth through entrepreneurship and gives her time and energy most generously
  to the cause, pro bono. Her husband, Deen Dayal Tuteja, provides vital support to her in this cause.

- ICG Coordinators
- Responsible for ICG’s Nayayard project (including IC-Sister Lillian Memorial Health program for Navayard), and the Merrill Lynch-I Create-NFTE (MINE), an important entrepreneurship education and business plan competition program, respectively are two dedicated young men Joseph Pius and Jatin Haribhakti.

Lena Bondue, NFTE Belgium, in Vadodara
Our special thanks to Lena Bondue from NFTE Belgium who spent a whole summer and monsoon to work at grassroots level with the I Create team and trainees for helping them become entrepreneurs. Grateful thanks to Naresh and Tejas Kothari of Vadodara and his parents for hosting I Create guest, Lena and assisting her in her IC project.

Entrepreneurship For Harmony: Program For Low Income Urban Areas
ICG started its operations in October 2002, a few months after the devastating communal riots between Hindus and Muslims. The idea was that when people do business together there is greater harmony in their relationships. When the youth are gainfully employed or engaged in business, they have no time for anti social activities.

I Create Gujarat has “adopted” a low income urban area called Navayard, Baroda. Its residents belong to all the three major religions of India: Hindu, Muslim and Christian. Through unrelenting efforts of ICG’s field coordinator, Joseph Pius, a strong and growing Empowering Women Through Entrepreneurship (EWE) program, more than 100 women entrepreneurs have been created. Entrepreneurship training and employability skills have been provided to over a thousand women and youth through AEW and EAS workshops in Navayard and surrounding low income areas such as Tandalja and Danteshwar, Tarsali, Karalibaug, Nandesari, Sayajigunj, and Gorwa.

ICG’s Integrated Entrepreneurship Program
I Create has a three-pronged program consisting of a) Training of Trainers, (TOT), Aspiring Entrepreneurs Workshops (AEW), Entrepreneurship Awareness Seminars (EAS) and Group Follow Up Sessions (GF) b) Business plan competitions at the regional and National levels, c) Empowerment of Women through Entrepreneurship (EWE). For details of I Create program, please click Our Program. With some modifications as per the needs and requirements of the local communities, ICG follows the general IC program.

Skills Training
Those women who have taken the AEW course and want to become entrepreneurs are provided training in various skills according to their aptitude and interest. 296 youth and women have received skills training in kite making, imitation jewelry designing and making, detergent making, Phenyl making, tailoring, hand embroidery, sweater knitting, gardening, bandhani printing, paper bags making, pickle making etc.

- Seed Money
- ICG provides seed money to women entrepreneurs who have taken the AEW course and are ready to start their own business. ICG does this in partnership with Laxmi Mahila Cooperative Society. This is done after a careful evaluation process. We are proud to say that the loan repayment rate among the ICG seed money recipients is 99%.

Health Program: I Create – Sister Lillian Health Project for Women
Sister Lillian was a dedicated ICG Master Trainer. When she passed away last year of a sudden illness, I Create decided to start a health project for the women of Navayard in her name, with a part time gynecologist and a full-time health worker. When money is scarce, the health care needs of the husband, the main bread earner of the family, and the children are met first. By the time the woman’s turn comes for health care, often there is little or no money left. It if for these reasons that the IC – Sr. Lillian Health Project is meeting a critical need of the women of Navayard. This program is sponsored by Mrs. Rita Puri of Pittsburgh, USA.

ICG’s Rural Program
Training of Trainers (TOT) workshops were conducted for selected trainers from NGO’s working in quake-affected areas of Kutch. Participants form the following NGO’s were trained

• Shrujan, Yusuf Meherally Centre, Samerth Trust, YMC, Gram Seva Trust

In addition, AEW’s and EAS have been conducted in: Seven villages surrounding Mandal, Village Zumka for women in partnership with BCC, Villages Andadh and Ramgarh for women and men in partnership with Swades, Village Nandesari for women members of Self Help Groups in partnership with Deepak Charitable Trust.