WE-Hub has worked with 3,497 entrepreneurs so far: Deepthi Ravula
The CEO of WE-Hub spoke in length about the kind of work the incubator has been doing for women entrepreneurs from not just Telangana but pan-India
Hyderabad: India’s first and only government-led incubator for women, WE-Hub situated in Hyderabad, has so far worked with 3,497 entrepreneurs across the board and has made sure that not just urban startups but even rural entrepreneurs are provided a platform to grow their business, said Deepthi Ravula, CEO, WE-Hub. On the last day of TiE Global Summit, she spoke in length about the kind of work the incubator has been doing for women entrepreneurs from not just Telangana but pan-India.
“We are working with women entrepreneurs across verticals, space and scale. There are three main things that we are focused on – government liaising, incubation wherein we also run a pre-incubation programme for entrepreneurs to understand the nuances and then tell them to apply for the incubation, and finally work with 32 institutions and 18 countries to support our entrepreneurs,” she said.
Ravula added that WE-Hub is not here to promote a women-led world only for women but an equal world wherein men and women can co-exist. In terms of credit linkages that have been provided by the incubator, she said that about Rs 35 crore-worth of credit linkages have been operationalised during the lockdown.
At the same session titled Embrace, Engage and Empower, IAS officer Meeta Rajivlochan who is the member secretary of National Commission for Women spoke about the different initiatives and policies being framed by the commission to make India a better place for women. “We are looking to improve the capability of women and make gender-neutral laws,” she said. Global Adjustments founder Ranjini Manian spoke about the different traits like networking, moving away from comfort zones for entrepreneurs to have.
Govt encouraging defence manufacturing in pvt sector: DRDO chief
Hyderabad: Indian defence manufacturing has evolved over the years with DRDO backing private sector. Today, there are over 2,000 companies in India that make systems and sub-systems, based on the specifications. While DRDO focuses on more advanced, translational and applied research, there are more opportunities for the private sector in near feature, says a top official.
DRDO chairman Satheesh Reddy speaking at the TiE Global Summit emphasised that India is transforming from an import-dependent nation to a self-reliant country with the government encouraging design, development and manufacturing of systems to take place in the country. The government has recently barred import of 101 defence items so that the domestic sector can be encouraged to meet the sector needs.
The government has come out with policies and measures to ease licensing activity to improve the ease of doing business and Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative is also helping innovation. Soon, the government will roll out schemes to encourage industrial research.
DRDO too from its side rolled out a technology development fund to support innovators and product developers with Rs 10-crore support. The organisation has given the private industry access to its 1,500 patents in addition to extending testing facilities.
He said, “The upcoming missile programmes will further open up opportunities for the private sector participation. Companies will be able to design, test, develop and make systems. This will not only enable them to meet the domestic needs but also make them export-ready. Government is consciously making efforts to reduce the time taken for clearances by increasingly adopting digital platforms, besides removing obstacles such as the bank guarantees.”
Each missile programme opens up several thousand crore worth of opportunities and the private sector should gear up with requisite capabilities, he asserted.
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