75 women entrepreneurs in India will be supported by the India Global Forum
Bangalore, Karnataka, India:
- Annual two-day summit in Bangalore culminates in launch of ‘Investor Network’
- IGF Founder Manoj Ladwa Announces Fund Dedicated to 75 Women Entrepreneurs in India
On the second day of India Global Forum’s annual summit themed “The New India Inc.”, Manoj Ladwa, Founder and Chairman of India Global Forum, in the presence of Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Trade Affairs, announced a “network of investors”. with the most pioneering founders and entrepreneurs as mentors as well as a dedicated fund for 75 female entrepreneurs, marking 75 years of India’s independence.
Speaking on occasion, Nirmala Sitharaman, Government of India, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs said: “The next 25 years are critical for India’s development as we celebrate our 75th year of independence; therefore, we wanted this year’s budget to empower young people and entrepreneurs. We could still manage 40-45 unicorns as a country during the pandemic. It demonstrates the power of youth, which we recognize.”
Commenting on announcements, Manoj Ladwa, Founder and Chairman, India Global Forum said, “Through India Global Forum, we are today announcing an Investor Network that will bring together and support through mentorship, money and networks, 75 women entrepreneurs to go global.”
Members of the “Investor Network” include Anmol Nayyar, Partner, DMI Finance; Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Aarin Capital; Nikhil Kamath, Co-Founder, Zerodha and True Beacon; Prashant Pitti, co-founder, EaseMyTrip; Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel; Ramakant Sharma, Co-Founder and COO, Livspace; Ruchi Deepak, co-founder, ACKO; Sujeet Kumar, co-founder, Udaan; Umang Bedi, Co-Founder, VerSe Innovation (Dailyhunt & Josh) and Kunal Shah, Founder, CRED.
The event also witnessed insights from prominent tech-driven disruption leaders and those who have joined the “unicorn club” as well as senior ministers, policy makers and global trendsetters.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Skills Development, Entrepreneurship, Electronics and ITsaid, “The next two to three years will see a deeper and broader expansion of India’s innovation ecosystem.”
Meenakshi Lekhi, Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture, highlighted the growing need for diplomatic intervention to support business from day one and said: “These are changing times for business diplomacy. The Global Change Agreement, Regional Trade Agreement and Bilateral Change Agreement are leading the way. The future will be dominated not only by the diversification of markets, but also by the diversification of supply chain mechanisms. Therefore, it makes business sense as well as political and human sense to diversify as much as possible to avoid unification which creates an extremely difficult situation when disruptions occur on a large scale. Since democracies have prices to pay, they must work together to support and benefit from each other in terms of technology, science and development.
Sharing thoughts on her inspiring journey, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairman, Biocon said: “For a woman, access to capital, talent and technology is one of the most daunting challenges even today. In the world of venture capital, the line of questioning for a woman seeking funding and a man seeking funding is grossly unfair.
Speaking of the upkeep and growth of a unicorn, Ananth Narayanan, Founder, Mensa Brands said, “Focus 90% of the time on building a great business and 10% on fundraising and everything else.”
Commenting on charting a new course in uncertain times, Nikhil Kamath, co-founder, Zerodha said: “The Indian markets are big in terms of volume, but in terms of participation, they are not. Of 1.4 billion people, only 2% have direct or indirect exposure to equities.”
Divya Gokulnath, Co-Founder and Director, BYJU’s said: “With the pandemic, there could be a disproportionate impact of the gender gap in education. Studies show that 67% of girls have not attended school online. The gap between gender lies in the number of years of education that girls and boys receive which widens with progressive years, which we need to improve.”
Vineeta Singh, CEO and Founder, Velvette Lifestyle said, “The change that is happening in young women making their own decisions is helping brands that are obsessed with them create products that work better. I am very optimistic that the next decade will belong to women entrepreneurs.
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