The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership India Yash project, together with Villgro, a leading social enterprise incubator in India, have launched the Yash Entrepreneurs Programme to catalyze innovative business models to improve family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) outcomes for young people. The launch was done in collaboration with the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India. 

The Yash Entrepreneurs Programme will support 20 enterprises across India, over a 36-month period, to invest in solutions to revolutionize how youth and adolescents access quality FP/RH services.

The programme will help shape an entrepreneurial ecosystem to scale promising and cost-effective FP/RH innovations by leveraging partnerships with key public and private sector stakeholders. Each enterprise will receive funding of up to Rs 10 Lakhs, as well as technical assistance, mentoring, and incubation support from Villgro.

The support will include skill building on the designing, prototyping, and manufacturing of products such as sanitary napkins, digital marketing, financial dashboards, legal compliance, organizational culture, and leadership capability. 

A smaller number of promising startups will be provided with more intensive acceleration support, as well as an additional funding of up to Rs 1 Crore. The selection will be made based on evidence of future cash flow for the startup, its technology potential, strength of product pipeline, ability for the team to grow the company, and the potential reflected in the first round of funding.