Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit’18 concludes on a high note

Ms. Anna Roy, Advisor, Niti Aayog in her opening speech urged the audience to support women entrepreneurs, “It is the need of the hour that we promote women entrepreneurs who will not only benefit the society but will also help in developing our nation”. She was addressing at the Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit’18, held today at Symbiosis, Vimannagar campus.

Elaborating about The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) by NITI Aayog Ms Anna said “The platform is a first of its kind, unified access portal which brings together women from different parts of India to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations. The initiative is aimed at building an ecosystem for women across India to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations, scale-up innovative initiatives and chalk-out sustainable, long-term strategies for their businesses.”

“Through such summits 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. We appeal to women entrepreneurs to register on this site so that more and more people are a part of the community which will help to provide solutions to challenges faced by other entrepreneurs. From providing unique services such as credit evaluation of women-led start-ups by CRISIL and potential equity investments through dedicated funds established by various investors, the WEP opens up avenues of growth and opportunity for women entrepreneurs,” she concluded.

Symbiosis International (Deemed University) (SIU) in association with Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) and The Association of Women Entrepreneurs / Industrialists of Maharashtra (WIMA) organised the Summit to bring together women entrepreneurs from varied backgrounds and realities to share their journey and experiences, trials and tribulations in an effort to provide an inspiring and facilitating ecosystem for aspiring and present women entrepreneurs to realise their full potential.

Dignitaries present on the occasion Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, Pro Chancellor, SIU, Ms. Anna Roy, Advisor, Niti Aayog, Ms Suchitra Kanade, Chairman, The Association of Women Entrepreneurs / Industrialists of Maharashtra (WIMA), Dr Rajani Gupte, Vice Chancellor, SIU and Mr Dilip Thosar, CEO, Symbiosis Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (SCEI)

Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, said, “SIU has committed itself to encouraging the spirit of entrepreneurship and setting up of an ecosystem to facilitate student entrepreneurs to bring their innovation and ideas to fruition. Supporting the government declaration of 2010-20 as ‘India’s Decade of Innovation’, SIU’s Symbiosis Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (SCEI) is a dedicated Technology Business Incubator, catalyzed and supported by NSTDEB Division, Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India. One third of the incubatee startups at SCEI are led by women. SIU plans to set up a women entrepreneur incubator in Bengaluru.”

“SCEI carries the mandate of promoting entrepreneurship and innovation specifically in health and technology start-ups among young Indians. Through its programmes, ‘Immersion’, ‘Inception’ and ‘Incubation’, SCEI bring to young innovators and entrepreneurs state-of-art technology in its Innovation Lab. SCEI brings in investors and mentors to its incubatee startups helping them cross the “Valley of Death” and bloom their business ideas into modern scalable businesses,” Dr Vidya stated.

Suchitra Kanade, said, “WIMA is a not for profit social organisation dedicated to promoting financial independence of women and fulfilling the needs of women entrepreneurs / industrialists with the synergy of collective efforts and common thinking since three decades. We have been striving to waive off collateral security mortgage for women entrepreneurs when they receive monetary aids. To promote and market their business we organise big scale exhibition, seminars and workshops amongst others.

The session was followed with a panel discussion moderated by Mrs. Namita Thapar, Chief Financial Officer, Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited which focussed on realities behind the status of women entrepreneurship and what are the challenges they face as women and what can be done to empower them. Panellists included Ms. Snehal Londhe, Ms.Susan Josi, Ms. Madhura Valunj, Ms. Gayatri Nimhan-Kadam, Ms. Nivedita Saboo and Mr. Arun Nathani.