Rozgar Dhaba – Building Employment Pathways in Rural India
Rozgar Dhaba – Building Employment Pathways in Rural India examines how a hybrid social enterprise bridges the persistent gap between educated rural youth and formal sector employment in urban India. Founded by Neelam Pathak, the venture combines physical hubs embedded in villages with a low-bandwidth digital platform to deliver skilling, placement, documentation support, and post-placement engagement. Through a hub-and-spoke model operating across multiple states, Rozgar Dhaba addresses structural barriers such as trust deficits, mobility constraints, documentation gaps, and gendered exclusion from labor markets. The case highlights innovations such as community-anchored field coordinators, employer partnerships, and the HerJobs initiative that enables remote and flexible work for women. As the organization scales rapidly, it confronts strategic dilemmas around funding, attrition, supply–demand mismatches, and the risk of losing localized trust. The case invites discussion on hybrid models, inclusive labor markets, platform design for low-infrastructure contexts, and the tension between mission and momentum in social enterprises.