M Chakrawarty Email & Phone Number

600mn rural population living in Class 3 towns (Pop. >20k) to Medium size villages (Pop. >2K), have high aspirations, but do not have access to information & to products/services, are hampered by the lack of choices and do not have the convenience of getting it fulfilled at their doorsteps. The “middle of the pyramid” households (mass aspirationals), with an annual per household consumption of INR 3L (as per census 2011) is estimated to be around 60 million households translating to a market size of about $240bn/annum. Even as mobile Internet penetration is growing, transactions are impeded by various factors, including low level of digital literacy and lack of trust. A recent report by Omidyar, Bain & Google clearly highlights that this yawning gap needs to be bridged for rural households, largely through assisted-commerce models that blends online & offline worlds.1Bridge targets these rural households and the local retailers in these villages through a network of local entrepreneurs (1Bridge Advisors or 1BAs). The 1BA, the core of our network is a local youth entrepreneur, who is not only trusted in his community but also loyal to us – as we provide a range of earning options and social security benefits for them at their own village, thereby enabling them to earn as much as Rs 15K/month. The 1BAs are trained to interact with households and the stores to understand their needs and provide various services and products that are relevant to them, right at their doorstep using the 1Bridge Technology platform. Currently, a strong and growing network of 3000+ entrepreneurs have access to 20mn Households across 50+ rural districts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharastra & Orissa.

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  Consultant

  Samunnati

  Bengaluru, Ka, In