The MBN, which announced this in a meeting of Maratha entrepreneurs on Sunday, is zeroing down on land on the Aurangabad- Beed bypass for the mall. So far, over 100 members have signed up for the venture.
While Maratha bodies will organise a silent protest in Mumbai on Wednesday seeking quotas in employment and education, a group of Maratha entrepreneurs have launched a venture to convert job seekers from the community into job-givers. The Aurangabad-based Maratha Business Network (MBN) will kick-off a private limited company to supply equipment needed in the construction industry and hand-hold youth to launch business ventures.
Despite impressive turnouts at the 'Maratha Kranti Morchas' organised across Maharashtra since last year, community leaders admit they needed to move beyond quotas in government jobs and educational institutions at a time when the state was gradually withdrawing from these sectors. They stress that members of the community, who have traditionally relied on farming and public sector employment, need to diversify into entrepreneurship for sustenance.
"We are a group of small entrepreneurs who have joined hands to help each other through training and problem solving for members," said Ram Pawar of the MBN. Pawar, an Aurangabad-based builder, said they would float a private limited company under the "Rayat" brand name to launch a "construction mall" supplying building-related material and equipment to developers. "This construction mall will sell material like bricks, paints, steel and other hardware needed for the business," he added, stating that shareholders will have to contribute Rs 25,000 each as equity with remaining money being raised as debt.
The MBN, which announced this in a meeting of Maratha entrepreneurs on Sunday, is zeroing down on land on the Aurangabad- Beed bypass for the mall. So far, over 100 members have signed up for the venture. "We will admit one shareholder per family. Membership will be open to all and not restricted to just Marathas. This is a business and we will run it like one," noted Pawar.
"Reservations will not solve all problems," admitted Pradeep Solunkhe, NCP leader and former spokesperson of the Sambhaji Brigade, who is the advisor for the MBM. He added they would train youth for entrepreneurship and hand-hold them in launching their own ventures.
Deepak Pawar, assistant professor, department of civics and politics, University of Mumbai, noted that the Maratha community had increased its strength in Maharashtra on the basis of government patronage. While welcoming the initiative, Pawar said though Marathas had enjoyed political power even before the creation of Maharashtra, non-Maharashtrian business classes had controlled the economic sector due to their relationship with the Maratha political class.
"The Maratha elite did not help forge a self-sustaining entrepreneurship culture even in rural areas where capital was created by the co-operative movement," he noted. Pawar added hard-line Maratha groups and political parties were using Maratha youth as "mercenary armies."
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