Industry lobbies tie up with NITI Aayog for 'women entrepreneurship platform'

New Delhi  :  Industry lobbies like the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) on Thursday announced tie-ups with NITI Aayog for the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) initiative.

The NITI Aayog's WEC initiative aims to promote and support established as well as aspiring women entrepreneurs in India and create a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem where women do not face any gender-based barriers.

"Through a joint programme, Ficci and NITI Aayog shall provide hand-holding, mentorship, capacity building, scaling up and networking support to 100 technology led women enterprises over a period of five years," Ficci said in a statement.

It added that Ficci and NITI Aayog will also undertake policy advocacy towards formulation of policies and schemes that foster women entrepreneurship by identifying the existing gaps.

"Ficci is fully committed to work with NITI Aayog towards strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem for women in particular," said Nirankar Saxena, Deputy Secretary General, Ficci.

"The women entrepreneurship ecosystem across the world has immense potential but is faced with financial and social barriers. Our aim is to provide a level playing field to women entrepreneurs," Saxena added.

In another move, IT body Nasscom said it has entered into a partnership with NITI Aayog to provide a continuous stimuli for innovation and growth among the women entrepreneurs in the country. 

"Nasscom through its start-up warehouses in 10 states would make available space for 15 women entrepreneurs led start-up across locations on a nominal charges basis, providing top class infrastructure, high-end technology and field expertise, and curated programmes to augment the growth of these women entrepreneurs," Nasscom said in a separate statement.

Debjani Ghosh, President-Designate, Nasscom said: "India is now on its next growth curve, led by disruptive technologies like data sciences and AI and women in our country have been leading the growth to the next level."

"The vision behind this initiative is to consolidate and streamline efforts in this space by building state-of-the-art infrastructure to amplify the impact that Women entrepreneurs in India can indigenously create," Ghosh added.