NITI Aayog to Open Dedicated Cell for Women Startups, Entrepreneurs

The success of Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017 in Hyderabad has ultimately motivated NITI Aayog to make an announcement of setting up of women's cell to help women entrepreneurs.

The Telangana government also announced three initiatives including setting up of an incubator to encourage women start-ups.

NITI Ayog, a policy think-tank of the Central government, will create a women's cell to do the handholding for women entrepreneurs.

NITI Ayog ACEO Amitabh Kant told reporters after the end of the GES that the cell will act as a facilitator and catalyst to provide all help including legal and intellectual property help.

The women entrepreneurs will get financing support from Mudra Fund and financial institutions. "We are here to help women entrepreneurs as long as the projects are viable and bankable," he added.

He said one of the issues discussed at GES was inadequate funding for women. He, however, claimed that under Mudra Loan Scheme, 74 percent funding was given to women.

Kant announced that women's schools will get priority in selecting schools for tinkering labs under the Atal Innovation Mission. The selected schools will be provided robots and 3D printers.

He also said the incubator under Atal Innovation Mission will also support startups set up by women or designed for women.

Telangana's Information Technology Minister K. T. Rama Rao announced that WE-Hub would be modelled on the lines of T-Hub, the country's largest technology incubator which earned appreciation from both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump's daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump at the summit.

As the summit was focused on women entrepreneurs, the state government decided to set up the facility to help women startups.

Kant announced that the Atal Innovation Mission would partner with the state government for the WE-Hub.

Rao also announced setting up a Technology Fund (T-Fund) with a corpus of Rs 15 crore exclusively for women entrepreneurs. The women entrepreneurs can get Rs 25 lakh to RS.1 crore under this Fund.

Announcing the third initiative, the minister said women entrepreneurs will get one-fourth share in 20 percent of total procurements made by government from the private sector, mostly SMEs.