Women Economic Empowerment Program

Celebrating Women Entrepreneurs at TGS '24: From Access to Aspiration During the Pushing the Boundaries: Growth and Women Entrepreneurship; The Journey from Access to Aspiration session conducted by GAME at TGS '24, we had the privilege of hearing directly from inspiring women entrepreneurs who are redefining their lives and communities. These powerful stories were shared by members of the Buzz Women cohort, a program dedicated to enabling women with critical knowledge, skills, and opportunities at their doorstep. By equipping them with tools to enhance their capabilities, Buzz Women empowers women to transform their lives, their families, and their communities. Stories of Resilience and Growth: ▶ Mrs. Rajamma from Koratagere Taluk, Tumkur District, began her tailoring business after participating in Buzz programs. With the support of a MicroEquity loan through the Yunus Social Business Fund, facilitated by Buzz Women, she expanded her business and now tracks her finances seamlessly using the MeraBills app. ▶ Mrs. Nagarathnamma from Bangalore South Taluk ventured into animal husbandry after Buzz intervention. She expanded her enterprise to include a decorative plant nursery, again leveraging a MicroEquity loan facilitated by Buzz Women and utilizing the Merabill app for expense management. ▶ Mrs. Parvathi from Devanahalli Taluk, Bangalore Rural District, embarked on her journey in food processing after Buzz’s intervention. Supported by a loan under the PMFME scheme, she successfully launched operations just a month ago. ▶ Mrs. Ashwini, also from Devanahalli Taluk, established a cashew processing unit that has been running successfully for over a year. Her business not only creates employment opportunities for local women but also involves her son, promoting a legacy of entrepreneurship. Shruti Patil Mahagaonkar, Founder of The House of NutriCastle India, shared her entrepreneurial journey of building a thriving snack brand. As a member of Entreprenaari from Aspire For Her, Shruti highlighted the significance of access to credit, markets, and overcoming societal biases that often challenge women-led businesses. She also emphasized the unwavering support she received from her mother throughout her journey, which has been instrumental in helping her dream big and aspire to greater heights. These stories reflect the power of intervention, financial support, and determination. Through platforms like TGS '24, women entrepreneurs are being seen, heard, and celebrated, pushing boundaries from access to aspiration and beyond. GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship TiE TiE Bangalore Ravi Venkatesan Madan Padaki Mekin Maheshwari Ketul Acharya Poulomi Pal Uthara Narayanan Vanya Kaushik Samikhsya Nanda Lisa Keshariya #WomenEntrepreneurs #TGS24 #Empowerment #BuzzWomen #GAME #Entrepreneurship #InclusiveGrowth #WomenInBusiness #PushingBoundaries

“You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I’ll rise.” – Maya Angelou Maya Angelou’s powerful words capture the resilience and spirit of women leaders who are rising above barriers to transform their communities. At the “Still I Rise: Leadership Through Collectivization” panel, moderated by Nidhi Gupta, Executive Director, Dhriiti - The Courage Within, we celebrated the inspiring journeys of women entrepreneurs who are not just building livelihoods but driving systemic change: 🌟 Narmada Jha, Tisser Artisan Trust: From convincing families to support women artisans to creating shareholders in their own company, Narmada is empowering women to own their craft. 🌟 Sumitra Devi, (Former) Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture: Breaking stereotypes, Sumitra became a drone pilot operator, started nurseries, and shared innovations like vermicompost, proving how training transforms possibilities. 🌟Rani Devi, Professional Assistance For Development Action (PRADAN): By transforming farming practices, Rani empowered 100+ women, helping entire villages and carving independent identities for families now known by their names. 🌟 Aparna Pillai, Shakti Jhola: Aparna’s skills have helped her and fellow community women earn from home, overcoming barriers of poverty and unemployment—showcasing the power of self-reliance. 🌟 Vrindanati Devi, Bindi International: With courage to travel and learn, Vrindanati lit up her village, built her own home, and broke barriers of isolation. 🌟 Iaishah Rymbai, ERIWEAVE SELCO Foundation: Iaishah is bridging the artisan-market gap, leading 100+ women to global markets while reviving traditional crafts and ensuring economic sustainability 🌟Chandra R, Vrutti -Livelihood Impact Partners: From seeking permission to now being sought for advice, Chandra shows the power of learning in groups and sharing experiences to uplift entire communities. These women embody hope, leadership, and resilience, much like Angelou’s enduring spirit. Yet, their journey highlights the urgent need for: - Better market access - Skill-building opportunities - Stronger support from community-based organizations At WEMAC, we believe that when women rise, they lift economies, families, and generations along with them. Together, let’s work to create equitable and sustainable opportunities for every woman to rise. GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship The Udaiti Foundation Ladyfingers Co. Ravi Venkatesan Madan Padaki Mekin Maheshwari Pooja Sharma Goyal Morchan Karthick Kanika Singal Ketul Acharya Poulomi Pal Poornima Menon Samikhsya Nanda Vanya Kaushik Lisa Keshariya Rajasee Ray #StillIRise #WomenEntrepreneurs #Leadership #Resilience #MarketAccess #EconomicEmpowerment #CollectiveLeadership

"... of winged, unmiraculous women, Honey-drudgers. I am no drudge Though for years I have eaten dust And dried plates with my dense hair." Stings - Sylvia Plath This poem by Plath speaks of her emotional turmoil as a woman, trying to establish an identity. This resonates with the lives of the women we work with—these so-called “unmiraculous ones,” who carry wings as metaphors, unleashing energy, dreams, and aspirations. At our recent Women Entrepreneurship Market Access Collective event, community women leaders, artists, and producers shared powerful stories of resilience, challenges, and the need for better market access. While community-based organizations have equipped them with skills and confidence, it’s now time for private platforms, policymakers, and innovators to create market solutions that address their needs and drive inclusive economic growth. Kalawati Rathod - Saath Ahmedabad: Mobility barriers persist; private platforms must innovate with women’s realities in mind. She emphasized how mobility remains a huge challenge for women like her, preventing them from accessing larger markets. Rizwana Begum - Creyo: She shared how her skills have been able to reach a larger public, allowing her craft to sustain her livelihood. Santosh Kumari - URMUL DESERT CRAFTS: Education transformed her life and enabled her business journey. Being the first woman in her village to graduate, she reflected on how education shaped her path and empowered her to lead. Naziya Mirza - Aftertaste_India: She shared how her daughters’ belief motivated her to recognize her abilities and take pride in her work. Ayesha Begum - Kriti Social Initiatives: She spoke of breaking stereotypes, learning to save collectively, and how it transformed her outlook. Pratima Rabha - Tamul Plates Marketing Private Limited: She highlighted how community savings improved economic stability and uplifted her peers. Meena Kaintura - Mount Valley Development Association: Peer learning fostered growth and resilience. She spoke about the importance of peer learning and how growing together has helped her gain confidence. Moderated by Rica Roy, this discussion brought to light the structural and societal barriers these women face. Their voices are a powerful reminder that true progress requires us to listen, innovate, and act. Let’s continue to recognize, support, and empower women producers, leaders, and solopreneurs to thrive. Now is the time to ensure their voices and perspectives shape market access solutions that unlock inclusive economic opportunities. GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship The Udaiti Foundation Ladyfingers Co. Ravi Venkatesan Madan Padaki Mekin Maheshwari Pooja Sharma Goyal Morchan Karthick Kanika Singal Ketul Acharya Poulomi Pal Samikhsya Nanda Vanya Kaushik Poornima Menon Lisa Keshariya Rajasee Ray

The opening panel, From Spare Change to Real Change: Making Markets Work for Women Entrepreneurs, laid the groundwork for an engaging and thought-provoking conversation at WEMAC'24 This panel enriched our understanding of critical topics, including: ✅ The development of gender-intentional policies that address systemic barriers for women entrepreneurs ✅ The active role of private platform partners in bridging gaps and driving scalable impact ✅ Identifying the right metrics to ensure equitable and inclusive market access for women collectives We extend our deepest gratitude to the insightful panelists— Vandana Bahri- Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Shagun Sabarwal- Co-Impact, Megha Jain- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dipika Sharma- Amazon, Saransh Agrawal- Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC), Bharath Visweswariah- British Asian Trust, and Richa Kothari- Impact Investment Exchange (IIX)—as well as our incredible moderator, Aparna Bijapurkar- Boston Consulting Group (BCG). A special thanks to the The Udaiti Foundation team for being our knowledge partner on this journey, and to Rajasee Ray, Co-Founder Ladyfingers Co., for beautifully summarizing the discussion with these thoughtful and engaging illustrations. As we reflect on this panel discussion, here are the key takeaways that resonated the most: 🔑 No Size Fits All Women entrepreneurs face diverse and evolving challenges. Tailored solutions—focused on credit, logistics, skills, and markets—are essential to meeting their needs effectively. 🔑 Gender-Intentional Design Thinking Embedding gender intentionality at the core of policies, programs, and platforms ensures that solutions address viability, sustainability, and scalability barriers for women. 🔑 Collaboration is Critical Driving real change requires all stakeholders—public, private, and grassroots—to come together, align efforts, and create sustainable pathways to support women entrepreneurs. 🔑 Aggregator Models Unlock Market Access Aggregators play a transformative role, but their economics are unique. Finding the right actors and creating localized solutions can help bridge critical access gaps. 🔑 Metrics Matter The right outcome readiness frameworks and impact metrics are essential to measure progress and ensure equitable participation of women entrepreneurs. As we move forward, it is clear that fostering women’s entrepreneurship demands a comprehensive understanding and a collaborative approach. By working together, we can co-create innovative solutions that advance the ecosystem and drive sustainable, meaningful change. Together, let’s continue making markets work for women entrepreneurs. GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship The Udaiti Foundation Ravi Venkatesan Madan Padaki Mekin Maheshwari Pooja Sharma Goyal Morchan Karthick Ketul Acharya Poulomi Pal Samikhsya Nanda Vanya Kaushik Poornima Menon Lisa Keshariya

The 5th #SustainableDevelopmentGoal is "to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls." Goal 5a states: Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gytznDC8 A panel discussion on "Capital Access Challenges" was held at the TiE Global Summit 2024 (December 9th, 2024), moderated by Pooja Sharma Goyal. It was a powerful reminder of the structural and systemic hurdles women entrepreneurs face in their journey from access to aspiration. Discussions on unconscious biases, informal funding models, and gender sensitive lending practices underscored how we can reframe entrepreneurship to be more inclusive and impactful. The session highlighted actionable strategies for change. It’s evident that solving these challenges isn’t just about funding—it’s about reimagining how we value and assess women’s contributions to entrepreneurship and economic growth. Access to capital is more than a financial challenge; it’s a question of equity, opportunity, and systemic change. The road ahead calls for collaboration across sectors to ensure that women’s entrepreneurial journeys are not just supported but truly empowered. #WomenEntrepreneurship #AccessToCapital #Entrepreneurship #Leadership #Reform The Udaiti Foundation Lakshmi Pattabi Raman Centre for Exponential Change Piya Bahadur MeraBills Uthara Narayanan Buzz Women Ramesh Dharmaji GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship Ravi Venkatesan Madan Padaki Mekin Maheshwari Ketul Acharya Poulomi Pal Samikhsya Nanda Vanya Kaushik Poornima Menon Lisa Keshariya

🌟 Reflections on TGS '24: Pushing the Boundaries – Women Entrepreneurship 🌟 Attending the recent TiE event hosted by GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship on December 9th was an insightful journey into the challenges and opportunities shaping women entrepreneurs in India. The panel, "From Collective Strength to Market Success," moderated by ever amazing Divya Sampath, Growth Advisor, Aspire For Her offered transformative lessons on leveraging technology and intent to access emerging markets. Key Takeaways: 1️⃣ Gendered Lens in Solutions Aarti Mohan, Co-Founder & Partner Sattva Consulting emphasized that women entrepreneurs, 90% of whom are in the informal economy, need improved access to markets, financing, and supportive policies. Enhancing the ease of doing business is critical to their success. 2️⃣ Harnessing Inclusive Technology Aarti Nyayadhish, Associate Director, Digital Initatives Head Held High Foundation highlighted the potential of inclusive tech like Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC) to bridge the digital divide and empower rural entrepreneurs. Simplifying access to digital tools is key to enabling grassroots innovation. 3️⃣ Preserving Tradition with Innovation Suvarna Kamakshi, Co-founder Tamaala Art Merchandise showcased how integrating tech with traditional crafts can create sustainable markets. Community-driven approaches like zero-budget marketing scale heritage responsibly. 4️⃣ Collective Action for Impact Rema Subramanian, Managing Partner Ankur Capital stressed the need for mentorship and investment in gendered innovations. Collaboration can unlock sustainable solutions and foster scalable women-led ventures. 5️⃣ The Power of One jacintha jayachandran, Founder Hopeworks underscored dignity and safety as entrepreneurial foundations. Empowering mothers and daughters together drives generational change. 6️⃣ Stage-Specific Incubation Ankita Pegu, AVP, Women Entrepreneurship Programs NSRCEL highlighted the importance of flexible, stage-specific support through community-driven incubators. Tailored mentorship enables women entrepreneurs to scale sustainably. The session reinforced the transformative role of technology, policy, and collective action in empowering women entrepreneurs. A special thanks to the remarkable moderator and panelists for their invaluable insights. Let’s commit to supporting this journey by mentoring, purchasing from women-led businesses, or amplifying their voices. GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship TiE Bangalore Ravi Venkatesan Madan Padaki Mekin Maheshwari Ketul Acharya Poulomi Pal Vanya Kaushik Samikhsya Nanda Lisa Keshariya #WomenEntrepreneurship #InclusiveGrowth #TiE #GAME #DigitalEconomy #Duopreneurs #Socialinnovations #Economicempoerment

Today, at the Amazon India Sustainability Summit in Delhi, our WEE team members, Poulomi Pal and Samikhsya Nanda, had the privilege of engaging with industry leaders and innovators. The summit highlighted Amazon's commitment to sustainability, focusing on empowering women sellers—not just as an ethical imperative but as a strategic move for achieving economies of scale. Key Highlights: Supply Diversity Session: Amazon is taking significant strides to enhance supplier diversity by: - Setting meaningful metrics to improve visibility for existing and new suppliers. - Addressing entry barriers for women entrepreneurs through capacity-building initiatives. Showcasing Women Entrepreneurs and Their Craft: Hoineichin Singson, a talented entrepreneur from Nagaland supported by YouthNet, captivated attendees with a live loom demonstration alongside a skilled weaver. This spotlighted not just the cultural richness but also the authenticity of products crafted by women entrepreneurs. A heartfelt thank you to Dipika Sharma, Vikash Mishra, @Pooja from Amazon for inviting us and for providing a platform to showcase the incredible work of women-led brands and artisans. This summit reinforced the power of collaboration between corporates and grassroots initiatives to drive sustainable innovation, scale economies, and create inclusive opportunities under the ESG framework. GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship Amazon YouthNet Ravi Venkatesan Madan Padaki Mekin Maheshwari Ketul Acharya Nuneseno Chase Neike Shosahie Vanya Kaushik Poornima Menon Lisa Keshariya #AmazonIndiaSustainabilitySummit #SustainabilitySummit #WomenEntrepreneurs #SupplyDiversity #DigitalInnovation #WEE

Last week, GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship, along with the The Udaiti Foundation, hosted WEMAC (Women Entrepreneurs Market Access Collective Convening) to build awareness and highlight the incredible potential of collective action in driving market access for women entrepreneurs by showcasing inspiring case studies and collaborative discussions between philanthropic partners, private sector leaders, & community organisations. We launched a case study compendium that detailed successful collectivisation models. These examples illustrated how women entrepreneurs, working together, have overcome systemic barriers to access markets and achieve growth. While these models show great promise, they are still in their early stages and must scale up to reach their full potential. E-commerce alone represents a $200 billion market, yet women-owned businesses make up less than 1%. This isn’t just an economic imbalance; it’s a missed opportunity to drive social transformation at scale. Empowering women entrepreneurs can create jobs, boost incomes, and build more inclusive markets, benefiting everyone. Twenty years ago, the Late Prof. C.K. Prahalad proposed the idea of Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP). He believed that the world’s economically disadvantaged people shouldn’t be seen as passive recipients of charity or aid but as potential consumers and entrepreneurial partners in value creation. His vision inspired initiatives like the Tata Group’s Ginger Hotels and HUL’s Shakti Amma network, which show how innovative models can drive business success and social impact. However, this requires bold thinking, leadership, and sustained collective effort. We must rethink business models, engage platforms to integrate women entrepreneurs into their core strategies and build systemic support through better policies, accessible capital, and capacity-building initiatives. #WomenEntrepreneurs #GAME

Thrilled to see GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship join hands with Society For Elimination Of Rural Poverty - India and Global Forum for Sustainable Transformation (GFST) under Andhra Pradesh’s visionary “One Family, One Entrepreneur” initiative! Empowering 1 lakh women entrepreneurs, this collaboration is set to transform livelihoods, foster innovation, and drive inclusive growth across the state. Here’s to us at GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship & Women Economic Empowerment Program being able to contribute towards building a brighter, more self-reliant future for Andhra Pradesh!

We had the privilege of hearing incredible stories of resilience and determination from women entrepreneurs at TGS 2024. The discussions were deeply thought-provoking, addressing key challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, such as and many more: - Ease of doing business and the need to reduce entry barriers: Aarti Mohan, Aarti Nyayadhish - The potential of mother-daughter duopreneurs as a unique solution worth exploring: jacintha jayachandran - The importance of applying a gender lens to funding scenarios, ensuring equitable access to capital: Pooja Sharma Goyal Ramesh Dharmaji To sum it all up, we couldn’t agree more with the insightful words of Mekin Maheshwari: “Entrepreneurship is about taking risks. Successful entrepreneurs are often exceptional risk minimizers—they manage risks effectively, identifying pathways with higher chances of success and lower probabilities of failure. And when we think about risk minimization or risk management, women are tend to be better risk managers, with many tend to be better risk minimizers.” This thought resonates deeply with us, and we are committed to working towards enabling more women to embrace their strengths, manage risks, and succeed as entrepreneurs. #WomenEconomicEmpowerment #TGS2024 #EmpoweringWomen #WomenEntrepreneurs #CollectiveGrowth GAME - Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship TiE Bangalore Aspire For Her Divya Sampath Buzz Women Uthara Narayanan MeraBills Piya Bahadur Sattva Consulting Ankur Capital Rema Subramanian Head Held High Foundation The Udaiti Foundation NSRCEL Ankita Pegu Tamaala Art Merchandise Suvarna Kamakshi Shruti Patil Mahagaonkar Centre for Exponential Change Lakshmi Pattabi Raman Ravi Venkatesan Madan Padaki Mekin Maheshwari Ketul Acharya Poulomi Pal Vanya Kaushik Samikhsya Nanda Poornima Menon Lisa Keshariya