The Road to Parity enters India to fight poverty

Pictured in Delhi with TRTP Founder Jonathan Hill are Sudeep Dube and Rashmi Mishra, who are leading the entrepreneurs project for LLF

The Road to Parity has entered a new partnership to help the poor in India set up businesses.

The UK-based charitable organisation has signed an MOU with Indian NGO, Learning Links Foundation (LLF), enabling the two organisations to join forces to fight poverty through micro-entrepreneurship.  

Jonathan Hill, Founder of The Road to Parity, said: “I am so pleased we have the opportunity to work with Learning Links Foundation. This is a relationship which started as a result of a fact finding trip to India in January and discussions have developed since - culminating in this MOU agreement."

The two organisations will work together to identify people in extreme poverty who have the potential to run their own small businesses. This can be anything from a street cart selling vegetables to a small tailoring enterprise.

​The two organisations will work together to identify people in extreme poverty who have the potential to run their own small businesses. This can be anything from a street cart selling vegetables to a small tailoring enterprise.

Learning Links Foundation, which promotes better education and innovation, has 700 volunteer outreach workers across India who can help locate possible beneficiaries.

The potential entrepreneurs will then be screened against strict guidelines before one-off seed funding is released to support their new enterprises.

“We know the significant impact it can have on a family if they are just able to get a little business started, but the hurdle is always start-up cash,” Jonathan says. “Although the amount of money required can be less than sixty pounds, this is totally beyond the reach of people who face a desperate struggle every day to survive.”

Under the MOU, The Road to Parity will provide funding for the entrepreneurs, while Learning Links Foundation will support with resources on the ground. Both organisations will collaborate over the framework and development of the programme.

---