KSUM Entrepreneurship Summit Stresses Stronger Equity for Women

KOCHI:
Women need stronger equity participation to ensure gender equality in entrepreneurship, speakers said today at a two-day event that selected nine startups for funding aimed at boosting core female participation in various businesses.

The December 15-16 Women Startup Summit 3.0, organised by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh each to Beena P.S. (OmicsGenLifeSciences), Sonia Mohandas (Waterchips Techno Solutions), Mariyam Vidhu Vijayan (Crink), Sunitha Faizal (Celebees Technologies), Nimisha J Vadakkan (Acemoney), Nisary Mahesh (Hubwords), Ashwathy Venugopal (Avasarshala), Jeesh Venmarath (C-DISC Technologies) and Silpa P.A. (Nanograph).

The hybrid meet was inaugurated on Wednesday by Additional Skill Acquisition Programme CMD Dr Usha Titus, IAS (retd). Women, she said, should not wait for concessions; instead they must propose quality entrepreneurial projects that can provide immense service to customers.

Subsequent speakers, overall, noted that the present digital age heralds increased opportunities to women entrepreneurs. A Women Entrepreneurs Networking Meet was addressed, among others, by Sheela Kochouseph of V-Star Creations and Deputy Commissioner of Police Aishwarya Dongre.

The summit, with ‘Rise to Equal — Post-Pandemic Era’ as the title, chiefly held an Innovation Challenge section. Addressed by around 40 experts, including Srimathi Shivashankar(HCL Technologies) and former Dutch hockey player-coach Sjoerd Marijne, from within the country and abroad, the meet featured seven panel discussions on domains such as entrepreneurship, economy and technology.

Giving participants occasions to share their experiences, Women Startup Summit 3.0 gave them a venue to air their aspirations and success stories.

KSUM is the nodal agency of the Kerala government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state.