We are a newly established Public Charitable Trust located in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Odisha’s changing population structure (more and more youth moving into the productive age group category) presents the opportunity – and challenge – to reap a “demographic dividend”. This challenge will remain unmet, and the opportunity lost, if we continue to focus on just classroom education and job-centric skill-building – this only creates more and more job seekers and urban movement. We need a radically different approach to employment generation – one that is focused on promoting youth entrepreneurs who not only are job creators, but also are catalysts of sustainable development in their own local contexts thereby building an aspirational Odisha. Development and Environment Futures Trust (DEFT) will put this approach to practice in Odisha and demonstrate a cost-effective, replicable model for grassroot entrepreneurship development at speed and scale that enables people’s participation in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
