In a first, two state governments have joined hands to boost women-led start-ups in various focus sectors. Telangana government's WE Hub has partnered with Gujarat government's I-Hub, to support women entrepreneurs in both the states.
For the initiative to be implemented, around 240 women entrepreneurs will be selected for the pre-incubation programme. A total of 20 will be shortlisted for the co-incubation programme.
The initiative was launched by IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao. The partnership is expected to assist female entrepreneurs, so that, they can excel through their start-ups and set a new benchmark across sectors. The MoU was signed between Telangana IT and Industry Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and Gujarat Higher and Technical Education Principal Secretary Anju Sharma.
WE Hub was announced in November 2017. Looking back in the last two years, Rama Rao said, "WE Hub has changed the narrative of democratising entrepreneurship by pushing the boundaries for women entrepreneurs that exist in the industry through its work."
He further remarked that they are happy that now WE Hub has become the best practice model for many State governments.
"Through this partnership, we would like to create a roadmap of how women entrepreneurship can be scaled, supported and sustained not just in India but across the world. I wish this collaboration the best and pledge our support for an Atmanirbhar Bharat where entrepreneurship is based on competence and not gender," said Rao as reported by The New Indian Express.
CEO of WE-Hub, Deepthi Ravula, said that they are glad to collaborate with I-Hub to promote women entrepreneurship across Telangana and Gujarat.
She added that they would equip I-Hub with the knowledge and ecosystem through this collaboration that they have developed in the past three years. In the past, they have worked with more than 3,400 women entrepreneurs, 11 start-up programmes, incubating 148 start-ups which resulted in the creation of over 300 jobs.
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