Following a suggestion of Minister for Tribal Affairs,Arjun Munda,TRIFED has appointed, trained and deputed young professionals across the country to work with tribal entrepreneurs, promote its products and thereby provide market and exposure to them toward tribal welfare.

As per Munda’s directive in a meeting in 2019,TRIFED hired 25 young interns or program associates from reputed educational institutions in the calendar year of 2019-2020. They were trained and given an extensive induction programme, where in they were initiated into the workings of TRIFED.

Then, they were deputed in different areas and regions across India. The aim of this exercise was to harness and familiarize young professionals with the stark realities facing tribal entrepreneurs and also use their untapped potential for the betterment of the lives and livelihoods of these underprivileged tribal communities.

Today, these program associates were allocated to different divisions of TRIFED, such as Van Dhan Yojana; MSP division; retail marketing and MIS. Their responsibilities were charted based on the allocation. They were also sent to different states and regional offices.”This  was entirely based on the nature of their responsibilities and the need at the state/ regional office”, states TRIFED. 

As a part of the marketing initiative, the program associates worked with regional offices for various retail marketing activities like empanelment of tribal artisans, sourcing of tribal products, sales, business development, e-marketing and organizing exhibitions. 

To bring more exposure to the empaneled tribal artisans and to bring their skill sets and products to international standards, TRIFED has been collaborating with renowned designers such as Ruma Devi and Rina Dhaka to train the tribal artisans. 

Also,the program associates have been closely working with designers and tribal artisans to ensure that the initiatives are a success in highly advanced and competitive market. “They have also lent their innovative thinking and learned a lot from their association on special product development projects”, said TRIFED.
 
In fact,it has been nearly 2 years since this initiative was first rolled out. Enthused by its success, TRIFED plans to continue with this approach of inducting bright young professionals, based on its requirement and need. 

With the successful implementation of such initiatives, TRIFED is working towards the complete transformation of tribal lives and livelihoods across the country.