Our Journey
Now that we look back, Drishtee has travelled a journey of more than two decades, since it was founded in 2000. The journey was full of bitter sweet moments-we encountered on the way challenges which helped us push our boundaries, our victories which motivated us to do more each day. This journey has been possible because of the millions of rural families who trusted us and like minded partners who supported us in our cause.
Milestones achieved on the way
Drishtee began as a technological solution provider in rural areas. This model pioneered an ICT Revolution which was later carried forward by the government.
Drishtee Foundation registered as a society.
Drishtee foundation recognised as an efficient last-mile distribution network for rural stores. In order to address capital linkages, we partnered with State Bank of India (SBI) and started e-banking kiosks.
We adopted the 4C approach - Community, Capacity, Capital and Channel for all our projects and initiatives.
We progressed from the role of a service provider to be an enabler and shifted our focus on empowering rural families instead just on individuals under our Flagship program, Swāvlamban.
The rural poor of India account for more than 800 million people living in some 600,000 villages. More than 40% of these villagers live proudly on less than $1 a day. Drishtee aims to create a snowballing effect in the rural market by strengthening and expanding the supply chain network. By creating efficiency in the entire ecosystem, Drishtee lowers the overall risk by sharing it with a large base of rural entrepreneurs. Since, the same network shall procure from village-based micro-enterprises, it shall enhance their sustainability as well as positively impact Drishtee’s net margins as well as bargaining ability with urban manufacturers of similar product categories. Its model of working with local entrepreneurs (both the village-based small retailer as well as village-based micro-enterprise) is socially and politically sensitive of the rural environment as it distributes wealth across the spectrum rather than concentrating it in the hands of a few companies as in the case of organized retail and procurement only from urban producers. This would be Drishtee’s key differentiator in the space for years to come.