Action for India (AFI), a non-governmental organisation, launched WISE, its first business accelerator programme, to help the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals gain traction. It is aimed at high-potential female social entrepreneurs who are on their way to becoming the next impact unicorns.
AFI-WISE ignites the minds of women social entrepreneurs by exploring, networking, and funding opportunities, as well as partnering and launching new ventures with AFI. Through mentorship sessions, webinars, and podcasts, the programme provides extensive mentoring and handholding with the most select leaders through critically designed learning spaces.
Following the spurt of COVID-19, the programme was launched virtually in the presence of esteemed guests and panellists – Mr. Sanjay Kadaveru, Founder & President, Action for India was the event moderator; Ms. Shanti Mohan, Founder & CEO, Let's Venture graced the occasion as the keynote speaker, and Mr. Ashish Gupta, Head-Legal, eBay India as Partner speaker.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Sanjay Kadaveru, Founder & President, Action for India said,”Despite passing through a challenging year, it was one of the most active and successful years for AFI. We launched quite a number of initiatives and programs, pooling in the right resources bridging the gap for the social entrepreneurs.”
AFI aims to close investment gaps and accelerate growth through tailored interventions. In recognition of its unwavering support for female entrepreneurs, AFI has received funding from the eBay Foundation USA to expand its mission.
“We are thankful to receive the grant from the eBay Foundation enabling us to get this into action. India, being a test-bed for social innovations, and with global support of eBay Foundation, with the WISE program we intend to be able to produce some robust solutions that could be amplified for larger solutions.” says, Sanjay.
There are numerous accelerators around the world, but women, in particular, face unique challenges.
"Something that we endeavour to do is to design customized interventions that address the challenges faced by women social entrepreneurs to help them accelerate on their scaling journeys," he added.
Ms. Shanti Mohan, Founder & CEO, Lets Venture said “Seeing the macro scenario, we must address the fact rather than fight it, that there is a gender disadvantage. It has been a learning for me, that you must spend less time fund-raising and invest more time in building your business. We as women founders must take away the fact that we are going to be discriminated when we go fundraising.”
AFI welcomed its first cohort of five WISEpreneurs from across verticals – Education, Health, Technology, and Livelihood. Ms. Shveta Raina, Founder, Talerang, Ms. Neha Kirpal, Co-Founder, InnerHour a mental healthcare platform, Ms. Akshita Sachdeva, Co-Founder, Trestle Labs an initiative focussed towards empowering the blind and visually-impaired community, Ms. Janhavi Joshi, Co-Founder and Forbes India 30 Under 30, Ms. Pooja Rai, Founder, Anthill Creations, that brings sustainable playgrounds, play & learning home to children who are missing school due to COVID.
The AFI programme aims to give women social entrepreneurs a boost, thereby positively contributing to the social and economic development of society and creating a larger global impact.
