CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
CCISB has been providing revolving fund, micro insurance, skill up-gradation trainings as well as trainings related to basic business skills such as planning and budgeting. It has also been establishing external links to commerce and industry as well as linkages with market to promote economic development.
The Revolving Fund is a microfinance activity initiated by CCISB in the city of Bhuj, Gujarat. Revolving Fund is given to the CCISB members, collateral free and without interest rates, making it much easier for poor people to take a loan. The loans aim at economic recovery and economic development, and the idea behind this is that for poor people, this will automatically improve their livelihood situation. So far, CCISB has disbursed Revolving Fund to 1500+ members in urban and rural areas of Gujarat.
CCISB acts as a facilitator and intermediary for Afat Vimo scheme, a micro disaster insurance scheme designed by AIDMI targeted on poor disaster affected people. CCISB is actively involved with the community at every stage of providing micro insurance including providing capacity building in the form of training sessions with the community to explain comprehensively how insurance works, why it is beneficial, and how to be a good policyholder. Besides this, CCISB also collects premiums and supports its members to avail the benefits of insurance. In case of a disaster, the member informs the CCISB team, which helps him/her with the claim settlement.
25 trainings have been imparted at village level as well as at Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) covering different topics like account keeping, process maps, updating with new techniques in one’s business, carrying out small things to generate better business profit, and so on.
In Bhuj, CCISB has established linkages between sellers and suppliers for various small vendors and small businessmen such as vegetable vendors, pan masala cabins, grocery items selling, tea and snacks selling, cobblers, carpenters, masons, cycle repairing, cutlery vendors, readymade garments vendors, etc. to help them increase their sales and thereby their earnings.
