ReDEF ‘24: A Confluence of Purposefulness, Creativity and Persistence

The Digital Empowerment Foundation has been building a cadre of information providers, fact-checkers, myth-busters and digital service providers over the last 20 years to empower rural and under-served communities across India. This has been done through DEF’s flagship program SoochnaPreneur. The SoochnaPreneur program has now reached 10,000 villages through 2,000 SoochnaPreneurs across 26 states in India. 

Social entrepreneurship can commonly be defined as “entrepreneurial activity with an embedded social purpose”. The concept has thus become a large umbrella encompassing activities and processes to enhance social wealth. So SoochnaPreneurs act as change makers in the social sector and it also gives them the opportunity to earn money in the pursuit of social change.

SoochnaPreneurs are more likely to operate in a local area connecting with internal and external delivery systems bringing benefit to the unconnected and underserved segment of the population. These information entrepreneurs connect people of the last mile with the benefits of government welfare schemes, digital and financial services.

As social entrepreneurs, the SoochnaPreneurs have played diverse roles in the society; they have gone beyond their regular work of being digital service providers to provide relief during COVID-19, awareness about the risks of it. They have also taken up the responsibility of being community leaders who are not just service providers but custodians of the right information and knowledge. 

The Rural Entrepreneurship and Digital Empowerment Festival (ReDEF ‘24) brought together 1,500 SoochnaPreneurs to revolutionise the narrative of digital entrepreneurship in India. Against the backdrop of sprawling rural landscapes and the vibrant pulse of innovation, this event was a transformative journey into the heart of rural digital empowerment. 

Along with various capacity building workshops and speeches, the ReDEF also hosted the SoochnaPreneur Award ceremony. This award recognises those individuals that have showcased exemplary work at the grassroots level for leading positive transformation and digital innovation, intervention and empowerment in the rural communities of India. It celebrates the outstanding achievements in community mobilization, sustainability goals, women empowerment, skill enhancement and information dissemination with the most effective utilization of ICT tools. In this way, the award identifies and facilitates those individuals who extended their capacities to work for the upliftment of the underserved, helped them connect with mainstream progress and improve lives. 

In this newsletter you will read more about the outstanding work of the SoochnaPreneurs and the importance of bringing all of them together to create a more collaborative initiative that goes beyond duty and towards a higher level of commitment and purpose.