![\"navodyami-sante-deshpande-foundation-5\"](\"https:\/\/www.deshpandefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Navodyami-Sante-Deshpande-Foundation-5-1-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\nUgadi is the New Year\u2019s Day for the Hindu calendar in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. The word Ugadi means \u201cthe beginning of a new age\u201d, celebrating the beginning of spring.<\/p>\n
Navodyami hosted a two-day exhibition during this year\u2019s Ugadi festival at Hubballi. Micro-entrepreneurs from North Karnataka came together to showcase their vibrant, handmade, ethnic products. This community-based event provided a forum for entrepreneurs, at the beginning stages of building their businesses, an opportunity to promote and sell their products. Additionally, this event offers a place for these relatively new entrepreneurs to come together, share their experiences and gain insights and inspiration from each other. This event took place at one of Hubballi\u2019s prominent exhibition spaces, Gujarat Bhavan.<\/p>\n
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23 entrepreneurs proudly exhibited products such as beautiful textiles, handbags, handcrafted toys and other ornamental merchandise. The event attracted over 5,000 visitors from the Hubballi-Dharwad region, demonstrating the huge interest the unique exhibition had generated. Laxmi Naidu, is one great example of a successful Navodyami entrepreneur. She is a dressmaker who, with the support of Navodyami, was able to scale up her business from making 20 blouses per day to 200. She now plans to continue to expand her business as well as start her own training centre. Another candidate is Prakash Horthi, who is a handloom weaver. Navodyami provided the essential guidance and mentorship he required to rebuild his business. He is now producing 20 meters of cotton fabric per day and is set to scale up.<\/p>\n The selection process for this initiative includes handpicking candidates who have outstanding entrepreneurial spirit, a clear vision, and a strong commitment to their business ideas. Those selected receive monetary support as well as training, mentorship and market connections. Navodyami assists entrepreneurs to increase their market share, expand their production capacity, increase their returns and become more competitive in the marketplace. The program is an example of how appropriate support can help the many thousands of micro-entrepreneurs in India. Learn more at www.navodyami.org<\/a> and buy their beautiful products at www.navodyami.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nLocal leaders, Shri JagadeeshShettar and Shri Prahalad Joshi inaugurated this two-day event. They expressed how impressed they were with the progress of the Navodyami program and its ability to continually empower promising micro-entrepreneurs from the region.<\/p>\n![\"navodyami-sante-deshpande-foundation\"](\"https:\/\/www.deshpandefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Navodyami-Sante-Deshpande-Foundation-6.jpg\")
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