Page 4 - Women Entrepreneurs

Top 500 NSE-listed companies have 18% women directors, reveals study

Gender diversity in boardrooms is picking up, though at a slower pace, with women accounting for nearly 18 per cent of the directorships in the top 500 NSE-listed companies at the end of March this year, according to a study. In the study titled 'Corporate India: Women on boards', proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS) on Tuesday said that at a global level, boardroom diversity continues to improve with an average of almost 24 per cent female representation in corporate boardrooms. "India also has progressed in appointing women on company boards; from 6 per cent in 2014 to 14 per cent five years ago. Women now account for 17.6 per cent of directorships of the Nifty-500 companies. "Although the number of women directorships is increasing, the pace of new appointments has faltered with just an aggregate 1 per cent increase over the last three years. Based on these current rates, India will take till 2058 to achieve 30 per cent gender diversity on boards,"

India is catching up but the road is still long, say women leaders

For most women chief executive officers (CEOs) in India, the real job begins after overcoming this one big additional hurdle - to be accepted as the leader

JKRLM Umeed signs pact with Meesho to empower 1,800 self-help group members

Jammu and Kashmir rural livelihoods mission (Umeed) and e-commerce firm Meesho have signed an agreement to support the growth of 1,800 self-help group (SHG) members by providing them an online platform to launch and grow their business and empower rural women entrepreneurs. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed and exchanged in the presence of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha here at Raj Bhavan on Thursday. Congratulating women entrepreneurs of self-help groups (SHGs) and Meesho officials, the Lt Governor said the partnership will help in building lives and livelihoods for rural communities and provide greater access to economic activities, and financial independence to rural women entrepreneurs. The partnership of rural livelihoods mission and e-commerce giant Meesho is a significant step in making niche products of Jammu and Kashmir available to the wider customer base, providing SHGs global market to grow their business, and making them Aatmanirbhar, he observed. From

Three Indian women among 20 Asian lady entrepreneurs in Forbes Nov issue

Three top Indian businesswomen are featured in the Forbes Asia November issue highlighting 20 Asian women who came up with varying strategies that helped their businesses soar despite the uncertainty of the new normal and three years of Covid-19. Soma Mondal, the chairperson of Steel Authority of India Ltd, Namita Thapar, executive director at India business of Emcure Pharma, and Ghazal Alagh, co-founder and chief innovation officer of Honasa Consumer, are on the list. Some of these women operated in hard-hit sectors such as shipping, property, and construction, while others continue to innovate in areas such as technology, pharmaceuticals, and commodities, Forbes said in a press release on Tuesday. The Asia-Pacific region this year has mostly moved on to a post-pandemic era where governments, people, and businesses are learning to live with Covid-19, it said. The other women on the list are from Australia, China, South Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and ..

Randi Zuckerberg bats for more women to participate in Web3, crypto

Zuckerberg also toured several startup and venture capital offices and met many investors and founders in Bengaluru

Rajasthan's scheme turns women into entrepreneurs, provides Rs 1 cr loan

The scheme was started in 2019, and till now, 1,141 women entrepreneurs, SHGs and clusters have been sanctioned loans of more than Rs 57.60 crore in urban and rural areas

President Murmu to launch start-up platform for women entrepreneurs

President Droupadi Murmu will launch a start-up platform for women entrepreneurs created by Gujarat University here on Tuesday. On the second day of her two-day visit to Gujarat, the president will also inaugurate or lay foundation stones of various projects related to education and tribal development at a function at Gujarat University. 'Her Start' is an initiative of the varsity for women entrepreneurs. Murmu is on her first visit to Gujarat after becoming president. On Monday she inaugurated or laid foundation stones of projects worth Rs 1,330 crore at a function in Gandhinagar. She also offered a floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram.

FM Sitharaman asks women entrepreneurs to take up leadership roles

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday urged women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders to take up leadership roles. Addressing a women directors' conclave at the BSE headquarters here, she said there is not enough number of women leaders in the corporate world because they are saddled by an inherent feeling that they need to prove themselves time and again to be in the leadership role. And the only way out is mentoring and more women to become board members. Urging corporates to have more females on their boards, she said globally it has been proved that companies with more women leaders on their boards are more profitable and more inclusive. Women are not asking for gender parity and inclusivity, the minister said. "You want for profit, get us in. You cannot ignore us anymore," she added. Underlining the existing regulatory framework on women's presence on the boards of listed companies, the minister said now it's up to the companies concerned to walk the talk, the governm

Women entrepreneurs face problem in obtaining business loans: Study

Majority of the women entrepreneurs face challenges in availing loan services from nationalised banks, according to a study. The study was conducted by Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST) and saw the participation of 450 women entrepreneurs from three cities -- national capital region, Chennai and Pune. During the study, it was also found that about 60 per cent of these entrepreneurs faced problems in accessing critical financial services. "Eighty-five per cent of women entrepreneurs faced challenges in availing loan services from nationalised banks," the study claimed. It was conducted during the course of a three-year BYST Women Entrepreneurship Development Programme to set up profitable businesses in Chennai, Pune, and Delhi-NCR. "Public sector banks are happy to welcome loan applications of BYST assisted, under-privileged entrepreneurs who are well-trained...and duly scrutinised by our expert panel before submission to the banks," Lakshmi Venkataraman Venkatesan, Managing Trust

Amazon sets up grant for Indian entrepreneurs to build logistics business

Programme will help women, persons with disability, and people from the LGBTQIA+ community

Who is Neha Narkhede?

Pune girl Neha Narkhede (38) has joined the ranks of India's wealthiest women. Narkhede is ranked eighth on the Leading Wealthy Women 2021 list compiled by research firm Hurun. Find out more about her

'More women in India seeking entrepreneurial opportunities compared to men'

According to LinkedIn data, published in the World Economic Forum's 2022 Global Gender Gap report, the share of women founders grew 2.68 times between 2016 and 2021

How Google, Sequoia are supporting growth plans of women-led startups

A slew of accelerator programmes are reaching out to a segment that has been attracting a tiny share of the funds raised by the entire Indian startup ecosystem

Over Rs 30,160 cr sanctioned under 'Stand Up India' scheme in six years

The 'Stand Up India' scheme was launched in April 2016 to promote entrepreneurship among Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and women entrepreneurs

There is an unconscious bias in many industries, companies: Katrina Fotovat

Katrina Fotovat is looking to help support women entrepreneurs and women employees to help better shape their own and their community's economic future

Include women entrepreneurs as stakeholders in consultations on FTA: ICRIER

Economic think tank ICRIER has suggested the government to include targeted measures in the forthcoming foreign trade policy to boost women's participation in global commerce

Women's Day: Meet three entrepreneurs on a mission to empower women at work

International Women's Day: We spoke to three women whose enterprises have inculcated a strong sense of responsibility that helps their women staff get fair pay and an equitable working environment

Women's investible wealth grows more than that of men, shows data

When it comes to Asia (excluding Japan), women's investible wealth is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.8 per cent to $7.3 trillion by 2025 from $4.8 trillion in 2020

Meesho reaches milestone of 9 mn women entrepreneurs on its platform

With more than 60% of them coming from Tier-3-plus markets like Dimapur, Faizabad and Haldwani, Meesho said it is becoming the preferred e-commerce destination for the next billion users in India

Kalaari Capital firm CXXO announces $10 mn seed fund for women founders

Between January 2018 and June 2020, startups led by women founder-CEOs received only 1.43 per cent of the total capital raised in India