A Study of Micro Enterprise Development Initiatives of NGOs in the City of Mumbai

This paper is an outcome of an empirical researcti carried out by the author to study the role of voluntary organizations involved in empowering women, through micro-enterprise development initiative. The data was collected from 19 NGOs in the city of Mumbai. During the course of primary data collection from NGOs, it was noticed that except for few NGOs under study, there was an absence of initiatives to further the efforts of micro entrepreneurs by provision of various Business Development services (BDS).

This paper illustrates the provision of BDS to the urban poor in the city of Mumbai, by studying the:

1. Role of NGOs in development. Micro-enterprise

2. Identifying certain best practices in Micro- enterprise Development.

Objective(s) of study.

1. To assess the micro enterprise development initiatives of NGOs in the process of empowering the urban poor

2. To study the problems encountered by the NGOs in the process of Micro enterprise development.

3. To suggests measures to improve the micro enterprise development initiatives of the NGOs.

Entrepreneurship development training among urban poor beneficiaries could prove to be one of the most effective strategies for urban poverty alleviation through creation of self and wage employment opportunities.