This International Women’s Day, the women in India got a voice especially women entrepreneurs, as the NITI Aayog launched a Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP). Aimed at building an ecosystem for women across India, the forum will act as a catalyst for women making them realize their entrepreneurial aspirations, scale-up innovative initiatives and chalk-out sustainable, long-term strategies for their businesses.
CEO, NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, launched the WEP platform at NITI Aayog premises in the capital on March 8, in presence of UN Resident Coordinator in India, Yuri Afanasiev, Kailash Kher, industry leaders and supporting partners. The WEP theme song “Naari Shakti” composed and sung by Shri Kailash Kher was released on this occasion.
Nominations for the Women Transforming India Awards, 2018 were also opened by Amitabh Kant and Yuri Afanasiev.
The Vision
WEP was envisaged by the CEO of NITI Aayog during Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) last year in Hyderabad. The primary goal of this venture is to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem by encouraging more collaborations and partnerships. Thus building a viable network of young entrepreneurs who are sufficient on their own.
Established under the leadership of Ms. Anna Roy, Adviser (Industry) of NITI Aayog, the platform aspires to substantially increase the number of women entrepreneurs who will create and empower a dynamic New India.These aspirations are manifest in the three pillars on which WEP is built: Ichha Shakti (motivating aspiring entrepreneurs to start their enterprise), Gyaan Shakti (providing knowledge and ecosystem support to women entrepreneurs to help them foster entrepreneurship) &Karma Shakti (providing hands-on support to entrepreneurs in setting-up and scaling up businesses).
Plan of Action
With an informative, interactive website to act as a dedicated resource and knowledge base, WEP aims to address the bottlenecks faced by both aspiring and established women entrepreneurs by streamlining information across government and private sector schemes and initiatives.
WEP is to operate within a broader framework of industry collaborations and partnerships, which cut across sectors in the economy. From providing unique services such as credit evaluation of women-led startups by CRISIL and potential equity investments through an INR 10 crore fund established by DICE Districts, the WEP opens up avenues of growth and opportunity for women entrepreneurs.
Partnerships
Several industry partners are already in the loop for this program.
This includes ventures such as,
- ShopClues.com (for internships and dedicated mentorship)
- Mann Deshi Foundation (for digital and financial literacy to aspiring women entrepreneurs)
- Other leading giants include NASSCOM, CII, FICCI, SIDBI, and Facebook have partnered to provide business acceleration, mentorship and other start-up support for women entrepreneurs.
Women entrepreneurs who are seeking a platform to showcase their work can visit wep.gov.in for more information for more details.
Source: India Education Diary