Intiatives
1997
Azad Bharat Rail Yatra
Shashank Mani organised Azad Bharat Rail Yatra to mark 50 years of India's independence. 200 Youth on a train criss crossing length and breadth of India, travelled 8000 km in 14 days to discover "Real India" and its "Unsung Heroes"
2001
Jagriti Sewa Sansthan
Skill training and Mentorship institution to provide outcome-based skills to local residents of Purvanchal in order to enhance their employability. Skilling 2000 people every year across 15 outreach centers.
2008
Jagriti Yatra
14 day, 8000 km+, World's largest entrepreneurial train journey running for last 15 years impacting 7500+ youth across country with a mission to "Build India Through Enterprise" focussed on Middle India.
2019
Jagriti Enterprise Center Purvanchal
World Class Incubation center Built in a small village of Barpar, Deoria in UP with a mission to strengthen the enterprise ecosystem in Tier 2 and 3 districts of India by nurturing local leaders to become Udyamis.
2023
Jagriti-Startup20-G20 Yatra
Jagriti Foundation and Startup 20 engagement group, under India's G20 Presidency Set to launch the world's largest entrepreneurship journeys ever undertaken, with a diverse cohort of 350 Indian participants and 70 foreign delegates from G20 countries.
As India celebrated its 50thTndependence in 1997, Shashank embarked on a Unique journey 'Azad Bharat Rail Yatra'- a 14-day train journey, with 250 youngsters on board criss crossing the length and breadth of country to discover the "Real India" and its "Unsung Heroes". Thereafter, he compiled his experience and learnings into his first book "India- A journey Through Healing Civilisation" . A decade later, the same gang- not- so-young-anymore who travelled with him and relived their memories after reading his book pushed Shashank Mani to create one such Rail Yatra as an annual feature and so the world's largest entrepreneurial train journey "Jagriti Yatra" was Born in 2008.
Jagriti Yatra (since 2008) was conceptualized as a transforming ravelling experience for thousands of idea catalysts who will get o travel across India with change-makers, leaders, problem- olvers, innovators, and the role models- social and business ntrepreneurs of the country - to give shape to their ideas and nterprise ventures. The Yatra takes halt in 14 different cities here the boarders meet successful social entrepreneurs and nderstand their work modules while working on their idea during he Yatra. With a passion for nurturing innovation and creativity, Shashank wanted to encourage them to instil a mindset of roblem-solving and solutions. Over the last 15 years, Shashank as travelled 15 times across India, travelling a distance three imes the circumference of Earth. Till now, 7500 young minds, blaze with passion, have undertaken Jagriti Yatra with nwavering resolve, propelling themselves towards their spirations. Shashank feels energized every time he sees the lame of ambition burning bright, illuminating the path of Yatris to reatness. He feels youth are the harbingers of change and they mbody the essence of Jagriti. Jagriti Yatra as an initiative was ighly successful as it ignited the spark of entrepreneurship, nabling the youth to transform their ideas into ventures that enerated both economic prosperity and positive societal mpact.
The story of JEC-P is the story of "Local in a Global building" inspired by Our Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi's vision of "Vocal for Local". It is designed to spur action, by marrying opposites—combining thought and action; masculine and feminine; and technology and tradition. It evokes a sense of pride for India's rich past with traditions and inventions, and provides a suitable playground for further innovations, truly representing the values of New India. The amphitheatre steps to the water body adjoining the Banyan are reminiscent of a walk to the Ghats of Varanasi, 200 km due south. The Banyan tree has been a stage for the most famous of stories in the Vedic age too like the Ramayana was first told by Shiva from under a Vatvriksha (Banyan Tree) on Mount Kailash. A poetic talent from Purvanchal, Tulsidas, made that story accessible to the masses through Ramcharitmanas. Zen Buddhism inspires a symbolic architectural gap in the three main blocks, hinting at the large statue of Buddha curled up in nearby Kushinagar, where he attained Nirvana. The highest point of the building, a digital library, is deliberately lower than the Banyan tree, an homage to Kabir's wisdom, as he roamed these lands. A giant hand- embroidered mural, made by over a thousand local women, reminds us that Laxmi Bai, born in Purvanchal is an inspiration for every Indian girl even now. A hundred-foot- high flag, in line-of-sight of the Banyan tree, traces the linearity of that bullet fired by Mangal Pandey of nearby Ballia, that sparked our journey of independence in 1857.
Going a step ahead from this empowering journey, Shashank envisioned creating a generation of changemakers in Purvanchal through Jagriti Enterprise Centre Purvanchal (JEC-P), a state-of- the-art incubation center at Barpar (Shashank's ancestorial village) in Deoria around a 300-year-old Banyan tree, which has been an inspiration for Jagriti's values as well as its logo.
JEC-P aims to create a district enterprise ecosystem supporting small to medium enterprises in Tier 2 & 3 districts of Purvanchal that will usher an era of enterprise led development in India by connecting enterprises, experts, mentors and market partners. Established in 2018 with the slogan "Udyam Karenge, Aage Badhenge" aptly describes how JEC-P focuses on empowering enterprises and nurturing leaders in Purvanchal's Tier Ill districts by providing on-ground enterprise support, facilitated by Udyam Corp and Udyam Mitra leaders. The incubation program provides enterprises with three essential services: market access, mentorship, and funding. Additionally, the young thinkers benefit from the on-ground team's support, receiving entrepreneurship training and operational assistance. Noteworthy partnerships with esteemed organizations like Fabindia, as well as collaborations with players such as Amazon and logistics companies like Delhivery, further enhance the market access opportunities for social entrepreneurs. Today, JEC-P has expanded its network from 3 districts to 15 and a major portion of Eastern UP is being covered with 50 million citizens getting impacted directly.
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