Visakhapatnam: The Global Entrepreneurship Summit going on at Hyderabad which stresses on women entrepreneurship gives scope to peep into the number of women-led start-ups so far come up at the Sunrise Incubation Centre here at Rushikonda. The number according to the mentors there, is not at all encouraging as it could be around five only. Initially, the start-ups at the Sunrise Incubator were mentored by startup village now being taken over by Nasscom.
And, so far only one women-led start-up has turned up in the Nasscom warehouse out of 21 mentored. “We cannot deny the low turnout of women start-ups, but I would say a momentum has begun and surely a good number of women start-ups would be seen in Vizag startup warehouse too. The scenario is not different across India as the composition of women start-ups will be around 10 to 11 per cent. There is also subsidy in the fees for women startups at Nasscom warehouse,” said Nasscom 10K startup project manager for AP and Telangana Vijay Bawra.
“One of the very positive things is a good number of girls students are participating in the hackathons being conducted to propel innovative ideas and create a startup ecosystem. That is the reason we are reaching out to educational institutions to generate interest among students to become entrepreneurs,” He, however, pointed out that transportation facility should be made better for the IT SEZ from the city so that women would not feel reluctant to come up there,” said Mr Vijay.
Suggesting ways that could drive women entrepreneurship, Head of Marketing and Communications at Startup Village Collective Siddharth Ram said, “Women in Vizag should hear success stories of other women globally. We should talk less about empowerment and more about the success stories of women. “Policies for women working in corporates are well-defined. When it comes to startups, it is an uncertain atmosphere and policies are nascent because they are just establishing their business processes. Moreover, established startups should come up with programs encouraging women to take leadership roles in startups guiding girls to take up this path,” he said.
