Q.What is an Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP)? Explain its needs and its main objectives.

An EDP is the practical tool for building competencies; it is needed because those competencies must be actively trained, and it aims to carry a learner all the way to running a unit.

Meaning of EDP. An Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) is a planned, organised programme designed to develop entrepreneurial competencies in a person and to help that person set up and run an enterprise successfully. It is not a single lecture or a one-day motivational talk, but a structured course that combines motivation, knowledge, skill-training and hands-on follow-up guidance, carrying a potential entrepreneur from a vague desire to start a business all the way to actually launching and managing one. It is the practical instrument through which the idea "competencies can be developed" is put into effect.

Needs of EDP (why EDPs are required):

1. Competencies must be developed, not assumed — since competencies can be learned, a systematic programme is needed to actually build them.
2. To identify and select the right persons — not everyone who wishes to start a business has the aptitude; selection tests and interviews ensure training is well spent.
3. To reduce the high failure rate of new units — by supplying the planning, market knowledge and management skill whose absence causes many failures.
4. To bridge the knowledge and skill gap — first-time entrepreneurs usually know little about project reports, finance, technology or legal formalities.
5. To promote self-employment and reduce unemployment — turning job-seekers into job-givers.
6. To encourage first-generation and weaker-section entrepreneurs — special EDPs for women, SC/ST, unemployed youth and rural people.
7. To promote balanced and rural industrial growth — by training entrepreneurs across all regions.

Objectives of EDP:

1. Develop and strengthen entrepreneurial competencies in the participants.
2. Identify and select potential entrepreneurs with the right aptitude.
3. Motivate people towards self-employment and build their confidence.
4. Help participants select a suitable project / product and prepare a viable project report.
5. Impart the basic knowledge and skills of management — production, marketing and finance.
6. Create awareness of the institutional support available from banks, financial institutions and government agencies, and how to avail it.
7. Enable participants to set up and successfully run their enterprises, with follow-up support in the early period.
8. Widen the base of entrepreneurship in society, thereby promoting employment and balanced economic development. …