erala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), which has launched work on its ambitious Women Entrepreneur Mission (WE), expects to select around 25 enterprises owned by women during the current financial year to help them scale up business.
“Women entrepreneurs face several constraints and our aim is to handhold, provide financial, marketing and infrastructure support,” said a KSIDC official on Sunday.
As part of the WE Mission the Corporation also plans to hold a women entrepreneur summit on November 19 as it is the UN-designated World Women Entrepreneurs’ Day. KSIDC expects to have national and international experts speak at the summit in Kochi.
Gracy Thomas, managing director, Mahila Apparels Park, Angamaly, said that women entrepreneurs like her faced several problems, the most important of them being marketing linkages. She is optimistic that the WE Mission would help enterprises like the Apparels Park, which has 73 units and a turnover of over Rs. one crore, scale up business.
Mentoring sessions for around 2,000 women entrepreneurs in 10 districts; exposure visits in 10 districts to existing units for 1,000 participants; five events targetted at 2,000 participants; three common facility centres for 150 women entrepreneurs and selection of 10 projects for financial assistance, which will benefit 150 women entrepreneurs are the targets set under WE Mission for the current financial year.
The KSIDC official said that initially women entrepreneurs would be invited to district-level meetings, where enterprises with potential for growth will be identified. WE Mission was launched in May in Malappuram, where an entrepreneurs’ meet turned out to be a big draw. A similar convention in Kollam saw nearly 400 women entrepreneurs attending it.
The next meet is scheduled in Thiruvananthapuram on August 5.
KSIDC has tied up with Kudumbasree Mission and District Industries Centres to identify entrepreneurs. “We are using the large network established by Kudumbasree to reach out to enterprises”, said the official.
Women entrepreneurs face constraints and our aim is to provide financial, marketing and infrastructure support, says a KSIDC official
