ACCENTURE PROMOTES WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN INDIA

As part of Accenture’s on-going commitment to our communities, we participated in “Invest Karnataka 2016” – a prestigious global Investors’ meet, where around 10,000 delegates from all over the world gathered for the three-day event on February 3, 2016.

Srikant Rao, Regional APAC Source to Pay Lead and Chair of WEConnect International in India, participated in a high profile panel discussion on Promoting Women-Owned Businesses. The panel comprised of key representatives from the Government, Chief Executives of Corporations and iconic women entrepreneurs. Srikant emphasized the importance of Public-Private partnerships to create a symbiotic ecosystem to foster women’s entrepreneurship in India and promote socio-economic advancement.

WEConnect International is a global non-profit organization aimed at supporting women-owned businesses to succeed in global supply chains. Accenture is a founding member of WEConnect International, which brings together like-minded Fortune 500 corporates to promote women-owned businesses.

Accenture sponsored SEWA (Self Employed Women’s Association) to display their stationery products at the ‘Invest Karnataka 2016’ event, which caught the attention of many present delegates. Accenture is engaged with SEWA to train former waste picker women to produce stationery items, giving them the opportunity to enhance their means of livelihood and thus radically shift their socio-economic realities. At the event, Government representatives including Additional Chief Secretary to Government Commerce & Industries Department, Ms Ratna Prabha, voiced her intent to subsidize the WEConnect certification fees for women entrepreneurs; this subsidizes the full charge of the first year and 75% of the second for applicants and members.