Livelihood training remains an elusive concept in the areas where it should be most prevalent. Even in places where it is not an entirely foreign concept, livelihood training is often given a very restrictive meaning.

On the other hand, livelihood is a well-known concept. It is the means of earning to sustain oneself. This concept gave rise to the concept of sustainable livelihoods. Livelihoods transform into sustainable livelihoods only when there is stability, i.e., when livelihoods do not collapse in the face of market changes or unexpected events such as natural disasters, pandemics, and the like. Livelihood training trains groups of people who have similar resources, such as locations, incomes, livestock, land, tools, education, social networks, and skills. The essence of true livelihood training is empowering people to put such resources to the best use to make their livelihoods sustainable.

However, gone are the days when livelihood training was restricted to only earning limited income for sustenance. Today, livelihood training has a huge impact on the holistic lives of individuals with limited means. It is directly correlated to instilling an entrepreneurial spirit that drives people to put their skills to practical applications and build enterprises of their own.

Moreover, a key benefit of livelihood training is psychological. Once individuals feel empowered with the strength of the resources around them and truly recognize them as assets, their self-confidence and self-esteem get a boost. With this dignity, integrity, and confidence, individuals break out of inferiority complexes and are equipped to take calculated risks toward success.

Livelihood training teaches passionate micro and small entrepreneurs to sustain their entrepreneurial activities on the ethos of their skills. It acts like a comprehensive primer on the different facets of entrepreneurship such as business vision, communication, technology, networking, finances, and inventory control. With these skills in the basket, and more importantly, with the zeal of applying these skills independently, individuals can transform into entrepreneurs.

Time and again, I have stressed the importance of having a vision. A restrictive outlook does not help create grand successful business ventures. Empowered, strategized and ambitious foresight chalks the path to creating businesses that think beyond short-term income.

Livelihood training, whether or not labeled as such, has led to many such enterprises coming up and becoming successful. Examples of livelihood-inspired businesses have been spotlighted in my previous blogs as well. For instance, Khodija Bibi turned the recyclable scrap in her locality into an enterprise, or Jaba recognized the potential of her family garden of marigolds and became a flower-selling entrepreneur. Similarly, VFS Capital women have also availed themselves of loans for tools such as sewing machines, with which they have built successful micro businesses.

The main message that I wish to convey with these examples is that entrepreneurship is no longer a path that is restricted to inherited skills, or persons with ready-to-use capital at their disposal. People can be inspired by the resources around them, and once they have the skill to put them to their best use, they can look at flexible borrowing options such as microfinance to turn their ideas into sustainable and successful business ventures.