Principal Specialist / Senior Manager - Rural Solutions, Vyapaar

About Udhyam:

Udhyam Learning Foundation (Udhyam) is on a mission towards Making Bharat Entrepreneurial. We believe that entrepreneurship is a powerful way to channelize an individual’s potential. Entrepreneurship enables agency and allows an individual to work on their strengths while creating value for the world.

Our programs:

• Udhyam Shiksha works on developing entrepreneurial mindsets among the youth and enabling them to achieve their potential, having impacted :24,00,000 learners across 12 Indian states.
• Udhyam Vyapaar focuses on nano businesses in India, and solving large problems faced by them, at scale; having already enabled up to a 27% income uplift for 5000+ entrepreneurs.The goal for Udhyam is to build a thriving and supportive ecosystem, where every individual feels empowered to define their own path
  
  
  

Udhyam Vyapaar is working with Nano Entrepreneurs in the rural segment, mainly women and helping them with their businesses. Once the nature of the business is understood, various templatised solutions in terms of Sourcing, Market Linkage, Innovative practices and Business centric training are conducted with the ultimate goal of income increase and entrepreneurial mindset creation so that the business becomes sustainable in the long run. Typical engagements vary from 3 to 6 months per Vyapaari. Currently this program is running across multiple villages in a few districts in MP and MH.

Role Overview

We are looking for an outcome oriented and empathetic Leader to lead our Rural Entrepreneurship Solutions team working across various rural entrepreneurship projects in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. You will play a pivotal role in supporting on-ground teams with solutions, ensuring smooth operations, accurate data management, and building strong relationships with stakeholders and funders.

Key Responsibilities

• Team Management & Support
• Build, Lead and mentor a team working across different rural locations in MP and MH
• Help unblock day-to-day operational challenges and guide problem-solving for rural entrepreneur needs
• Support team in solutioning through regular check-ins, coaching, and contextual understanding
• Business Solutioning
• Mentoring and Business Solutioning for rural entrepreneurs - focussed towards income upliftment
• - Understand context, challenges of rural entrepreneurs, unlock challenges and aid business growth
• - Identify skill gaps and facilitate training, workshops and mentoring
• - Develop sustainable business solutions and models based on local context and reality
• - Facilitate connections for sourcing and selling with market, aggregators, online platforms etc.
  
  
  
  

• Stakeholder & Funder Engagement
• Build and manage strong, trust-based relationships with funders and key ecosystem players
• Represent the team’s work in review meetings and funder check-ins
• Share progress updates, insights, and reports in alignment with funder expectations
• Project Operations & Oversight
• Be on the field for about 50% of the time. Oversee execution of multiple concurrent projects on the ground
• Ensure timely delivery of project outcomes with a focus on quality and impact
• Collaborate with internal teams (Solutioning, Impact, Admin/Finance) to enable smooth field operations
  
  
  

What We’re Looking For

• Over 15 years work experience, with at least 10 years leading operations, or rural development, people management - preferably in the development/social sector
• Past entrepreneurship experience will be highly preferred.
• Strong interpersonal and stakeholder management skills
• Empathy and ability to work with field teams and rural communities
• Problem-solving and execution mindset
• Proficiency in Hindi (spoken and written); knowledge of Marathi is a plus
• Willingness to travel frequently to rural locations in MP and Maharashtra
  
  
  

Why Join Us?

At Udhyam, we offer a purpose-driven culture that values empathy, experimentation, and autonomy. You’ll be a part of a passionate team working on innovative solutions to real-world problems, with the opportunity to create a deep impact on rural livelihoods.

Work location: MP: Indore, Ujjain, Bhopal; or Maharashtra: Dhule, Nashik