For India’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the road to scaling up has often been filled with potholes and manholes—lack of capital, market access, and know-how on global expansion. But in the recent past, private giants like Walmart, Amazon, and TATA have turned these constraints into cornerstones through innovative, on-ground programs that help MSMEs to take off. These are not just CSR checkboxes—they are business ecosystem catalysts.
Let us take Walmart Vriddhi, for example. Launched in 2019, this initiative aimed to empower 50,000 MSMEs by equipping them with digital skills, financial literacy, and access to domestic and global supply chains. The program combined on-ground training with online capacity building, creating what one might call a “phygital boost” for small businesses.
The result? Thousands of MSMEs, especially from Tier 2 and 3 cities, are now part of global value chains. From textile hubs in Tirupur to craft clusters in Rajasthan, entrepreneurs have gone from “local to global” with confidence and competence. Walmart Vriddhi reached underserved regions—like Assam, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh—through local e‑institutes and state partnerships. Participants like a millet brand in rural UP and handicraft co‑ops in Assam reported sales jumps of 35–40%, wider market reach, and better rural visibility.
Let us time travel to 2018. Do you remember traders going on with sit-in protests across India in July 2018 against Walmart Inc’s acquisition of Flipkart, perceiving it as a threat for small businesses? The reality has something different in its basket. Walmart has created a win-win with small businesses gaining through Vriddhi. They didn’t stop after a win. A win should end with a bigger win. In June 2025, Walmart announced the next phase—Vriddhi 2.0—aiming to support an additional 100,000 MSMEs by the end of 2028, in partnership with the i2i Foundation.
As the World’s No1 Customer service Guru, Ron Kaufman defined, ‘Service is taking action to create value for someone else’,
Walmart’s initiative has created massive value—for the MSMEs, the communities they support, and Walmart itself through more diversified, localized sourcing.
Do you think Walmart is alone?
Amazon’s Karigar (for artisans and weavers) and Saheli(for women entrepreneurs) platforms offer similar upliftment by onboarding weavers, artisans, and women-led businesses onto their global marketplaces, with end-to-end support that includes professional cataloguing, training, account support and, marketing visibility.
Amazon’s Stand for Handmade campaign between July and Sep 2020 empowered over 1 million rural MSMEs—8 lakh artisans/weavers (Karigar) and 2.8 lakh women entrepreneurs (Saheli)—by waiving all “Sell on Amazon” fees for 10 weeks! Earnings doubled across clusters—over 500 Sambalpur weaver families, 4,500 Pochampally, 5,200 Bengal, and 200 Banarasi weavers resumed work. This surge reignited traditional crafts, expanded market access (12,000+ pincodes), and revived livelihoods disrupted by COVID‑19.
Cisco’s LaunchPad, and YES Bank’s YES SCALE accelerator have each supported niche tech-MSMEs with grants, market access, and global investor connects without taking equity.
YES BANK could have limited its startup accelerator support to FinTech. Yet, they decided not to. YES SCALE supports startups beyond fintech—targeting AgriTech, CleanTech, Life Sciences, and EduTech. The outcome includes water purification at 800+ railway stations with no electricity used in the process of purifying the water and no wastes being created. A YES Bank executive has claimed that for every Rupee spent on such projects, there is a corresponding social value creation of Rs 6.85!
These aren’t just philanthropic fairy tales—they’re mutual growth models. MSMEs benefit from exposure and scale. Corporates and accelerators benefit from innovation, winning local trust, and agility.
As the writer Tom Peters puts it,“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” These programs do exactly that—celebrating the ability of the large to drive the small and the potential of the small to drive the large.
The Way Ahead?
India’s 6.4 crore MSMEs contribute nearly 30% to the GDP and 49% of exports, yet often remain invisible in the formal economic narrative as they are not well-known brands yet. The success of such corporate-led initiatives by larger brands proves one thing loud and clear:
Small businesses don’t need sympathy. They need strategy, scalability, and spotlight.
Let’s applaud these “quiet giants” and the bold backers lighting their path.
Behind every thriving MSME is a spark waiting to be seen, scaled, and supported. At SUCCESS PILL, we turn that spark into a spotlight—backed by strategy, heart, and hands-on guidance.
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