From Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Mar 8: The State Government in association with the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnataka (AWAKE) celebrated the International Women’s Day and launched Ubuntu, the consortia of women entrepreneurs Associations, at IAS Officers Club in Bengaluru on Friday.

Women entrepreneurs and officials from various women's associations were present at the programme and extended their support to women entrepreneurship.

The programme was inaugurated by Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Commerce and Industries, IT, Biotech and Science and Technology and Retired former Karnataka Chief Secretary K RatnaPrabha.

Ubuntu was launched by Principal Secretary Gaurav Gupta, in the presence of MsRatnaPrabha and the nine founding members.

The brain behind forming the consortia, Ms RatnaPrabha, stressed on the need for women to move forward by empowering and encouraging each other. Ubuntu focusses on entrepreneurship development of women.

She said that Ubuntu has been launched with the spirit of “I am because we are.”

The consortia aims at reducing the gap between rural and urban entrepreneurship and slowly merge them. It also intends to have a holistic approach towards development of women tackling major concerns like health, education, security, financial support under one umbrella, she said.

Ratna Prabha asserted that without women there's no balance as they play a very crucial part in society.

The State Government too has the responsibility on them to account for women's contribution and acknowledge and give value that they deserve, she said.

She called on the women entrepreneurs to be good entrepreneurs as well as good human beings. The only way forward is to help and encourage each other and achieve progress together, she felt.

In his keynote address, Gaurav Gupta said technology has been a great leveller in the society. Because of technology, women have been able to work and achieve on equal footage with men. He said the Karnataka has been taking several steps to encourage women entrepreneurs.

The State Government has introduced 'Chethana' project, in association with Samsung and Infosys, targeted at girl students of Government schools across Karnataka. Through this, 500 girl students will be mentored at a week-long training camp, he said.

He also noted that there are special preference for women entrepreneurs in all the incubation programme by rhe State Government.

Gaurav Gupta advised women entrepreneurs to not only concentrate on the conventional mode of business but also integrate new-age entrepreneurial systems and opportunities.

The inaugural event was followed by insightful sessions by Wanitha Ashok and Roopashri Kathri.
Urban and Rural women entrepreneurs shared their success stories on the occasion.

Shalini Rajneesh, Principal Secretary Primary and Secondary Education, several members of several associations of women entrepreneurs such as AWAKE, Emerge, COWE, KASSIA, WEKAS, LAMP were present on the occasion.

Story behind the name Ubuntu

The name Ubuntu is based on an African tale which talks about the motivation behind Ubuntu culture in Africa.

An anthropologist who was researching in an African tribal area proposed a game to the children. He placed a basket of sweets near a tree and made the children stand 100 metres away. Then he announced that whoever reaches first would get all the sweets in the basket. The children held each other’s hands and ran together towards the tree.

When the anthropologist asked them why they did so they shouted, “Ubuntu,” which means how can one be happy when the others are sad.

They divided the sweets equally among themselves and enjoyed eating the sweets. So, Ubuntu in their language means “I am because we are."

Hence, the name Ubuntu which carries forward the spirit of, “I am because we are" and the philosophy of sharing and being there for each other.

What Ubuntu Aims

Ubuntu will contribute to move from competition to collaboration and will help women entrepreneurs to;

Position more clearly in market place
Be confident
To address their functioning and marketing problems
Have easy access to Government schemes and information
Have exclusive delegations abroad have enhanced their exposure to the market, technology & helped in scaling up their business
To showcase their strength and are accepted by financialinstitutions, Government and Society
Ubuntu will also be a show of the strength of women entrepreneurship. It will encourage good values and promote a new culture of sharing and working towards the growth of women entrepreneurship