WE-Hub launches ‘Sarthika’ programme to help Women-led MSMEs

Sarthika programme aims to reach women entrepreneurs across India and enhance the ease of doing business by improving access to information and uptake of public schemes and initiatives

Hyderabad: While situations for women-led Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have improved significantly over the Last few years in the country, their struggles are far from over. Keeping this in mind, in order to assist women entrepreneurs utilise government schemes and to upskill them to reap the benefits of a digital economy, WE-Hub, Telangana’s State-led incubator for women entrepreneurs, in association with the UK-based SME-focused business financial platform, Tide, has launched the ‘Sarthika’ programme.

According to WE-Hub officials, the programme aims to reach women entrepreneurs across India and enhance the ease of doing business by improving access to information and uptake of public schemes and initiatives. In the first phase of the programme, three government schemes- Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), Raw Material Assistance Scheme and Barcode Registration Subsidy would be taken up and awareness would be created about these programmes among women entrepreneurs.

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WE-Hub and Tide would be working with government departments to speed up the operationalisation of schemes and provide ease of doing business for five lakh women entrepreneurs across India by 2027, a WE-Hub official said. Both Centre and State governments have rolled out a series of measures to boost growth and opportunities for women in business, however, due to lack of information about eligibility and availability of schemes, poor allocation of resources, and complex processes, most of the women entrepreneurs were not able to take advantage of it, he added.

Union government-led initiatives such as the Mahila Udyam Nidhi scheme, the Annapurna scheme, and the Stand-Up India Scheme also underlines the push for women entrepreneurship in the MSME sector and provides financial assistance and help build industry-relevant skills to empower women entrepreneurs, the official informed.