Follow Your Inner Voice!
Plustrust works to encourage people who make choices based on their inner voice. We are strengthened by the knowledge that there are many “people like us” who follow their instincts to reach out to others and express care and compassion in concrete terms.
About Us
Plustrust is a Bangalore based organization that provides micro-incubation support to women changemakers from rural resource poor communities through fellowship programs. Established in 2008, Plustrust started by offering The Young Changemakers fellowships in inclusive education and animal welfare. Since then, Plustrust has grown, evolved, diversified and increased its reach to provide support and guidance to women with entrepreneurial minds to define, test and develop their ideas for change. We believe that nurturing individuals at the community level is the first step towards change.
Our Purpose
We address the persistent gender gap in entrepreneurship and innovation in rural communities in India that create major barriers to women’s aspirations and personal ambitions. Plustrust is therefore working with rural women changemakers by providing micro-incubation support through The Rural Women Edupreneur (RWE), Community Health Entrepreneur (CHE), Return to Roots ( R2R) and Changemaker Fellowship programmes. We identify and encourage those with entrepreneurial mindsets in piloting their entrepreneurial ventures in Education, Healthcare, and Livelihood to improve basic services in their community.
Our Solution
Plustrust aims to spread micro-incubation services through our network of Anchors who are trained and experienced to identify and mentor changemakers. The Anchors offer localized support to entrepreneurial ideas at a nascent stage which empower women and improves quality and spread of basic services like education, skill development, healthcare and wellbeing.
Through Plustrust Addas, (our hubs), we have been building an ecosystem to further intensify and embed our work. The addas offer Plustrust Fellowships that are tailormade to suit individual requirements. The Plustrust Adda in Udaipur, Rajasthan and the Plustrust Caring Friends Adda in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh bring together the inspiration, knowledge and skill for nurturing these minds. These addas also provide platforms for collaborations and partnerships to widen our reach.
Our Impact
Since the past 14 years, Plustrust has offered 298 fellowship opportunities across 14 states in India.
In the last 5 years, we have reached out to more than 600 women through our orientation program, out of which 224 fellowships were offered.
46 Women changemakers started their service enterprises, including stitching centers, boutiques, soap- making enterprises, goat rearing, seed centers, mushroom farming, weaving, bamboo crafts, organic fertilizers, and pesticides.
111 fellows worked in education and skill development, teaching young kids in rural communities. Young women worked with vulnerable communities and indigenous tribes throughout different states of India.
67 women emerged as Community Health Entrepreneur(CHE) and got equipped with skills to perform diagnostic testing. They reached out to about more than 25,000 people in their communities through healthcamps and community awareness sessions, done more than 7,000 diagnostic tests, and made an average earning of 1500-1800 per month working part time.
We have also diversified our Anchor network over the years and are now strongly connected with a group of 18 Anchors working in 7 states of India: Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
Through the micro-incubations, we have been able to provide a number of skill-building opportunities (Digishala, english learning, and digital learning) and have collaborated with individuals such as Mr. Sachin Kotangle, a start-up veteran, and organizations like the Karnataka Coaching Council (KCC), Bahaar Foundation, Portea, Spotsense,Vitor,Aloka Vision Program, Zeiss Foundation, Villgro and Stepone to help them create transformative spirals of change.