Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to channelize the power of women entrepreneurs to achieve the target of five trillion-dollar economy. A fact less recognized is that – women in India effectively play an important role in the economic growth of the country. And, especially, women entrepreneurs in India have a huge untapped potential.
According to a recent study, advancing women’s equality in India could boost its GDP by $0.7 trillion in 2025 or 16 percent as compared to the ‘business as usual’ scenario. Moreover, entrepreneurship remains critical to harness the economic potential of women and thus, achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030. Empowering women in the economy and closing gender gaps in the world of work are key to achieving this target, set by United Nations.
Modi Government’s flagship programme – to nurture budding entrepreneurs ‘Startup India’ is intended to build a strong ecosystem, to drive sustainable economic growth and generate employment opportunities. And I strongly believe that this growing impetus on entrepreneurship will add great value to the economy and help us travel the road to $5 trillion.
Besides providing the necessary boost to the economy, the government’s focus on enabling the ‘Startup India’ programme is also helping in bringing all the talented women to the forefront. It has come up with a programme called WING-Women Rise Together, which aims at identifying and facilitating both aspiring and established women entrepreneurs, by improving their access to incubation, investors and various business support systems. The initiative
looks to support at least 7,500 women entrepreneurs over the next one year.
According to the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) organisations such as NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform, Catalyst for Women Entrepreneurship, and the accelerator for women in tech initiated by Zone Startups India, provide dedicated support for women entrepreneurs.
Over and above, the government is also working towards enhancing the skills of women entrepreneurs, which will help them to further grow in their roles.
Avtar Madan
Himanshu
Shree Lahiri
