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| Representational Image via Mario Wallner Pexels |
The Wings Challenge is India’s first Social Impact Idea Fest for Women Entrepreneurs by India’s first women led incubator
- STEP (Shakti - The Empathy Project) is organizing India’s first Idea fest for women social entrepreneurs.
- They aim to support the winners with cash prizes upto 1 lakh rupees and corporate benefits from their ecosystem partners including Zoho for Startups.
- The winners will also get direct entry into their incubation programme which is dedicated solely for social entrepreneurship.
The event will witness marquee women leaders like Ms. Naghma Mulla (CEO, EdelGive Foundation), Ms. Seema Chaturvedi (Founder & Managing Partner, AWE Funds), Ms. Pooja Goyal (Co-Head of the Carlyle Global Infrastructure Opportunity Fund (CGI)), Ms. Vaishali Neotia (Co-Founder & CEO, Merxius), Ms. Rachna Chandrasekhar (Accelerator & Impact Manager, Upaya Social Ventures), Ms. Kuppulakshmi Krishnamoorthy (Global Head - Zoho for Startups) and many more as panelists who will share their insights on entrepreneurship from their own journeys as well as the need for ecosystem support for women entrepreneurs in the early stages.
According to a report by IndiaSpend, female entrepreneurship is particularly critical for India because it catalyses women's participation in the labour force, at a time when India's Female Labour Force Participation Rate (FLFPR) is at a historic low, having fallen to 17.5% in 2017-18. Only 7% of working-age women in India have paid jobs currently, as per a recent report in The Economist. Yet, only seven of 100 entrepreneurs in India are women and of them nearly half (49.9%) get into business out of necessity rather than aspiration.
STEP was founded by Ms. Renu Shah in 2019 with an aim to build a community of women entrepreneurs and provide them with necessary skills and resources for social good. Their first cohort had 16 women entrepreneurs working in varied spheres. By February of 2022 a total of 48 women have graduated from their programme. These social startups range from solutions addressing antibiotic resistance in TB patients using AI, creating battery twin in EVS, a wellbeing programme for family caregivers, marketplace for sustainable products to teaching youth in prison and sexual protection and awareness programmes in children among others.
Speaking on the event, Ms. Renu Shah said “Women are the economic dividend of this country. Women led startups earn 10% more in cumulative revenue over a period of 5 years. This shows that building an ecosystem for women entrepreneurs is not social service any more but an economic agenda. It’s time to change the narrative. Let’s agree that you, me and everyone who wants to see India move to the next level will work towards building an empathetic environment that will encourage and support women entrepreneurs.”
To register for the event, click here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dvwl2T_gQR28WA9L2g72mg
About STEP (Shakti - The Empathy Project):
Shakti-The Empathy Project is an incubation program for women entrepreneurs working towards finding solutions to social problems in India. Founded in 2019 by Ms. Renu Shah, the program’s core focus is on: creating a safe space for open exchange, capacity building, mentorship, funding & networking opportunities for women entrepreneurs with a focus on tier 2 and 3 cities. STEP was one of the four NGOs to get grants under Facebook Pragati in 2021. For more information, please visit - https://shaktipreneurs.org/
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