About MELDP

The Micro-Entrepreneurship & livelihood Development Program (MELDP) aims to support individual micro entrepreneurs and group enterprises in boosting incomes through building and enhancing entrepreneurial abilities.

Across northern Karnataka, Deshpande Foundation’s MELDP enables individuals, clusters and self-help groups to create dependable income streams, whether primary or supplementary. Our interventions include:

• Enabling fledgling entrepreneurs to develop the confidence to run their own business with compliance and fiscal prudence. Training programs at our Hubballi centre include business mentoring, accounting for small businesses, taxation including GST, and many more.
• Creating opportunities and linkages for market connect nationally and globally.
• Connecting beneficiaries with design professionals to create new products for high value markets. We currently work with Deccan pastoralists to create innovate products using their hand-spun, hand-woven sheep wool blankets
• Training to develop a new skill or ramp an existing skill. Recent trainings include advanced quilting, crochet, needlework and basketry.

Over the last 13 years, more than 5000 individuals have availed of MEDP interventions. The successes and concomitant goodwill can only accelerate our progress in the years ahead.