The time for women entrepreneurs in here and they are here to shine. Recently, 47 aspiring women entrepreneurs graduated from the Telangana government-led We-Hub. Women-led startups hailing from varying industries such as Medtech, fashion, clean energy, EdTechetccompleted their six-month cohort with WE Hub.
The women entrepreneurs graduated from five different programmes, including the second cohort of incubation. WDC Acceleration Cohort is a four-month programme developed in collaboration with Western Digital Corporation that focuses on the investment readiness of startups, from which eight women-led startups graduated. The Upsurge pre-incubation cohort is a 12-week programme that graduated ten startups.
Incubation Second Cohort Graduation: The programme provided startups with not only management, administrative, legal, and marketing support, but also technical assistance in developing their product and streamlining the technological innovation process in their businesses. The programme graduated up to 25 startups, including 15 tech startups.
WDC Acceleration Cohort Graduation: WE Hub developed a four-month programme in collaboration with Western Digital Corporation to support eight women-led startups participating in the Data Innovation Bazaar 2020. The programme will focus on the startup's investment readiness and will provide interventions in specific areas to ensure startup scale.
Upsurge Pre-incubation Cohort Graduation: The 12-week programme provides participants with skills that will allow them to assess the feasibility of their ideas and develop them into a sustainable business. The programme graduated ten aspiring female entrepreneurs.
Graduation of the Suvidha Pre-incubation Cohort: The three-month pre-incubation programme focuses on instilling the fundamentals of entrepreneurship in Tier 2 and Tier 3 rural aspiring entrepreneurs. Upon graduation, six aspiring startups received certification.
EarlyPreneur (student-entrepreneur): In collaboration with Hyderabad City Police, as many as 12 student-preneurs graduated and devised solutions to combat cybercrime, traffic, road safety, and women and child safety in the city.
WE Hub has also announced the launch of three new programmes for students and tech-based startups.
One such initiative to provide mentoring and business development support for women entrepreneurs is ‘Empowering the Greater 50%,' a FICCI and FLO initiative. As part of this, We-Hub and FICCI FLO will launch a pre-incubation programme for 100 aspiring female entrepreneurs across India, as well as an incubation programme for 20 established startups.
Girls in STEAM is another initiative that has been launched to create a platform for female entrepreneurs working in data science, artificial intelligence, and related fields. As part of this initiative, We-Hub will run a cohort of 100 school students from five cities in India - Bangalore, Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Kerala - in collaboration with WiDS (Women in Data Science) at Stanford University.
WE Alpha: In order to create a funnel for female students to pursue entrepreneurship as a mainstream function, WE Hub, in collaboration with 5 Technical Educational Institutions across Telangana, has devised a comprehensive programme to support 50 students through entrepreneurial development programmes, mentorship, and exposure visits.
Following the launches, a Tech show was held in which 22 tech-based startups displayed their products. The event also saw the graduation of four preincubation, incubation, and acceleration cohorts. Healthtech, Oceantech, Infratech, EdTech, Manufacturing, and other industries were among those represented among the graduating startups. K Taraka Rama Rao, Telangana Minister (MA&UD), gave me the opportunity to pitch my idea. At the event, the minister further congratulated the graduating entrepreneurs.
According to a press release from WE Hub, the girls in STEM programme is for aspiring female entrepreneurs looking for opportunities in data science, artificial intelligence (AI), and related fields.
WE Hub, in collaboration with WiDS (Women in Data Science), Stanford University, will run a cohort of 100 high school students from Bengaluru, Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Kerala for the programme.
Kristin Kivi, Ambassador of Estonia in India, interacted with the startups at #WEHUB and discussed ways to create collaborations to promote and scale Women Entrepreneurship in Estonia and India.
WE HUB is the first and only state-run platform for women entrepreneurs to start, scale, and gain global market access. WE HUB was officially launched on March 8, 2018, International Women's Day.
It is an an eco-system to support existing and aspiring women entrepreneurs, where they can interact with VCs for funding, connect with corporates for scaling up their business, get advice from mentors to fine-tune ideas, and march forward with renewed confidence on the path to success.
The hub offer services such as seed funding, mentoring, virtual programmes, business guidance, and government liaison to assist women in starting their own businesses. As a state-led initiative, we provide our services at reasonable and, in some cases, no cost.
Appreciating the efforts of WE Hub, Rao said, “I hope the first women-led unicorn will be from India and particularly, hope it comes from WE Hub in Telangana. Through these new programmes launched by WE Hub, including with the educational institutes, we will encourage innovation from a very young age across the country.” The release said 22 tech-based startups exhibited their products at the Tech show. IT and Industries Secretary JayeshRanjan said, “This is some of the best quality work that I’ve seen in recent years, without any doubt as we witnessed today some very precise design of solutions.”
