COVID-19: Michael & Susan Dell Foundation joins consortium for recovery initiative

Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in India on Thursday announced its support for 'Road to Recovery' initiative, and said it has made an initial commitment of Rs 20 crore under two seed funds.

The foundation is working with the Global Alliance for the Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and Impact Investors Council to help seed two funds - COVID-19 Sustenance Fund and COVID-19 Liquidity Fund, a statement said.

"The Dell Foundation is making an initial commitment of Rs 20 crores across both funds to support gig workers and micro entrepreneurs with recoverable grants and loans to help them get back to business," it added.

Ford Foundation, Kris Gopalakrishnan, the CSR arms of Arvind Group and Claris Lifesciences are the early funders that have already committed their support to the 'Road to Recovery' initiative,it said.

The initiative has been formed with an aim to stabilise small businesses, micro entrepreneurs and gig workers, whose livelihoods are so important to their families, communities, and the Indian economy,the statement said.

"Our commitment is to ensure that MSMEs and gig workers can get back to work for their families, communities, and the economy," Geeta Goel, Country Director India of Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, said.

She added that the foundation encourages other funders, investors, CSRs and philanthropies to join these collaborative platforms with the goal of supporting the stabilisation of small and micro businesses.

Together, these sectors employ over 100 million of the country's workforce.

COVID-19 Sustenance Fund aims to raise Rs 100 crore and will provide concessional loans or returnable grants for gig workers who have experienced a substantial drop in their income levels.

Companies such as SuperMoney and Shubhloans, and the CSR platform Samhita will help to disburse grants and loans from the fund, the statement said.

COVID-19 Liquidity Fund is a Rs 500-crore fund being set up with Northern Arc (formerly IFMR) with the primary objective of lending to micro and small businesses through non-banking financial corporations (NBFC).