Kerala in efforts to promote entrepreneurship, with parallel focus on gender equality
Kerala Startup Mission offers Rs 108 lakh productisation grant to 9 nascent firms that have women holding more than half the stake
The Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) has announced grants worth a total of Rs 108 lakh to nine nascent companies that have women holding more than half the stake.
The startups that emerged eligible for productisation grant of Rs 12 lakh each were Hello AI Labs, Phonologix Health Solutions, Linsys Innovations, Bylin MedTech, Varsya Eco Solutions, Docker Vision LLP, Iraah Loom International, Redhap and Suee Store LLP.
The names were announced towards the end of the September 23-24 ‘Women Startup Summit 4.0, 2022’ that featured 30 sessions addressed to 500-plus delegates by 80 experts. According to Surya Thankam S., Manager – Innovation, Financing and Procurement, KSUM, the grants would give a mighty push to the nodal agency’s efforts towards bringing in gender equality in entrepreneurship in the state. The two-day summit featured a string of sessions with speakers who included founders and managing partners, predominantly women, of a range of successful companies.
Kerala encourages women to be entrepreneurs
Earlier, inaugurating the summit Health Minister Veena George said Kerala is intensifying its efforts to promote entrepreneurship with parallel focus on gender equality, today. The government’s vision and policy make it compulsory to implement steps that encourage women to enter entrepreneurship and innovation in stronger numbers.
Kerala has been increasingly organizing programmes to up-skill and re-skill talents to increase their confidence, she added. KSUM has been working for long to remove all obstacles towards gender neutrality in entrepreneurship.
The two-day summit had sessions that promised to carry forward administrative ideas and make them fruitful, she said at the WSS 4.0, which overall hosted 30 live sessions addressed by 80-plus speakers in the presence of more than 500 delegates. The day’s proceedings featured a string of sessions with speakers who included founders and managing partners, predominantly women, of a range of successful companies.
Community innovation centres lined up
The summit featured an expo of more than 100 products, while simultaneously conducting master-classes, workshops, pitch fest, SheLovesTech and Investor Café. KSUM CEO Anoop Ambika said entrepreneurship in the state merits newer ideas that cater to the needs of its geriatric people when Kerala has aged men and women contributing to 60 per cent of the population.
We are set to set up community innovation centres in the state’s rural parts to scout talents in the villages as well as small towns to groom them. Further, the government is to work with non-resident Indian in a bigger way to create new enterprises in the state,” he added.
