Niti Aayog, Cisco launch next phase of Women Entrepreneurship Platform

The NITI Aayogand the US-based tech giant Ciscoon Thursday launched the next phase of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), according to an official statement.

Titled 'WEP Nxt', this next phase of Niti Aayog's flagship platform will leverage Cisco's technology and experience working with India's startup ecosystem to enable more women-owned businesses across the country, the statement added.

The WEP is a first of its kind, unified access portal that brings together women from different parts of India to realise their entrepreneurial aspirations.

Speaking on the occasion, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that as per the Sixth Economic Census, women only constitute 13.76 percent of the total entrepreneurs — 8.05 million out of the 58.5 million entrepreneurs in the country.

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"WEP Nxt will further catalyse the women entrepreneur movement, and I am confident with Cisco as our partner. This technology platform will soon be the personalised guide for every woman entrepreneur in the country to realise her dreams," Kant added.

Cisco Chief Operating Officer Maria Martinez said, "We are excited about our partnership with the Niti Aayog and hope to bring the benefits of digital technologies to more women-owned enterprises."

WEP — initially launched by the Niti Aayog in 2017 — is a unified portal that brings together women from diverse backgrounds and offers them access to a multitude of resources, support, and learning.

Encouraging women entrepreneurship can lead to the creation of 30 million women-owned enterprises in India and potentially transform employment in the country with 150-170 million new jobs, according to a report by Google and Bain & Company released in February 2020. 

In fact, Ratna Mehta, Executive Vice President at Wadhwani Foundation, who also heads the Wadhwani Catalyst Fund, said that the new-age women entrepreneurs in the last two decades are driving innovation in fashion, retail, personal care, education, and women and child-focused products and services.

(Disclaimer: Additional background information has been added to this PTI copy for context)