For Shri Veerendra Heggade, one of the prime areas of concern has always been the youth and their future. Realizing that rural youth were falling into despondency due to lack of employment opportunities, he in his own inimitable way, set to work. Educated rural youth have always tended to migrate to urban cities, as the rural areas are primarily agrarian and do not offer them too many job opportunities. Unfortunately, they are often at a disadvantage as they are more diffident than their urban counterparts. These factors prompted Shri Heggade to come up with a solution that would see the youth remain close to home yet solve their problem - create self employment opportunities.

In 1982, Shri Heggade started the first Rural and Self Employment Training Institute (RUDSETI) at Ujire. This programme with the active support of Syndicate Bank and Canara Bank chalked out an innovative approach to help the rural youth stand on their own feet. RUDSETI identifies opportunity avenues, trains participants in developing the desired skills and assists them in their entrepreneurial activity. A highly practical concept, this programme caters to the needs of both boys and girls. RUDSETI has developed a highly successful training module that is today followed in 21 locations around the country. Beginning at Ujire, there are now RUDSETI programmes in 12 states and over 1,50,000 trainees have benefited from it.

The most astonishing fact is that over 66% of the trainees who attended and took maximum interest have all successfully established entrepreneurial ventures, a spectacular and realistic result that no organisation on similar grounds has been able to achieve so far.

Many of the trainees aspiring to establish new business ventures also get bank finance and guidance from the RUDSETI.The secret of RUDSETI is the intense amount of planning and research that is undertaken to identify opportunities for the young generation with hands on experience. This programme is backed up by surveys based on facts. The students here, not only gain experience but also gather within them tremendous motivation to successfully establish the venture that they have in their mind.

In the pre-training phase of the programme, candidates are selected on a scientific assessment of their abilties. The selected candidates are then given lectures on motivation, conviction and entrepreneurial competence to stir in them the confidence that they can reach their destination. These sessions help on pushing the students a little harder than their actual ability so that they are in a position to comprehend and overcome any obstacle they might face in the future.

Apart from this, the training provides technical skill and know-how in the field that they have chosen. Later the training familiarizes them with the steps needed to set up their own business. The final phase covers several aspects of management dealing with man, material and money, so important for any organisation to succeed. At the end of this particular programme, the students are all geared up to begin their entrepreneurial journey brimming with the confidence that success is theirs in the field of their choice.