Media Release
Bengaluru, Feb 23: In a bid to digitise small towns of Bharat and strengthen women entrepreneurship in the country, eSamudaay, the world’s first local Commerce (LCommerce) platform has launched ‘Kamaal ke Dus(10)’ – a unique women entrepreneurship programme enabling dynamic and aspiring young women to set up and run independent eCommerce marketplaces in small towns of India.
Kamaal Ke Dus will be a series of cohorts, each made up of ten women leaders aspiring to become eCommerce entrepreneurs. The first cohort will be launched on March 8. The applicants will go through a selection process and ten winners will be selected from among the aspiring entrepreneurs who apply for the project. They will be offered four months of incubation, business mentorship, credit facilities, and free access to software worth Rs 1 lac to set-up horizontal eCommerce marketplaces in their hometowns. Through this initiative, eSamudaay aims to create a network of over 1000 women LCommerce entrepreneurs across India as part of its ambitious digital democracy plans.
LCommerce is eCommerce optimized for a town and operated by an autonomous local company using the SaaS tools provided on eSamudaay.com. They are essentially interconnected open commerce marketplaces that are locally run for the benefit of local communities. They are an online presence for sellers and producers of all kinds and optimized for logistics in the local area.
The women entrepreneurs with eSamudaay’s digital tools will be able to fully own the LCommerce platform in their communities. They will take charge of on-boarding sellers, offer product and service cataloguing assistance, marketing, order management, logistics and marketplace management services to other small producers and sellers. Each LCommerce entity will operate a Super App that will bring together local producers and sellers of all categories and promote eCommerce within the community. The local super app will offer all products and services that are both available and needed in the community, ranging from groceries, kitchen supplies, apparels, services like food, health and wellness, mobility services, home-services etc.
This initiative will not only create more employment opportunities for women in smaller towns but also help in building self-reliant communities, empowering other women sellers and buyers including home chefs, small producers, women artisans, and other businesswomen in those regions.
Announcing the programme, Anup Pai, founder and CEO of eSamudaay said, “Having been raised by a tenacious mother, I am keenly aware of the dormant economic and social change power that exists in our country. I truly believe women are the fulcrum of activities in any community so it was natural for us to come up with an initiative that would digitally empower them to lead other women in their community to become resilient and indispensable. As society transitions out of male dominance, the participation of women entrepreneurs in LCommerce will be a strategic advantage for eSamudaay. Increasing the participation of women in the formal economy has the potential of adding $1Tn to GDP and eSamudaay wishes to play our part in making that happen.”
eSamudaay is the world’s first attempt at a decentralized network of autonomous organizations creating digital marketplaces aligned closely with existing physical marketplaces. The firm is on a mission to make local economies digital and self-reliant, and women will play a central role in this mission. The firm earlier in January launched its digitisation drive in Chamarajanar, Karnataka aimed at incubating and digitally empowering aspiring rural youth and women entrepreneurs in the district. The latest pan-India women entrepreneurship initiative will further bolster its digitisation efforts across hinterlands of India.
For registration and more details: https://esamudaay.com/kk10/
About eSamudaay
eSamudaay, the world’s first local commerce (L-commerce) platform, founded by Anup Pai who formerly founded Banking Analytics firm Fintellix, later acquired by Nasdaq listed Verisk Analytics (VRSK). eSamudaay aims to enable L-commerce across cities and towns of India by leveraging the country’s entrepreneurial strengths and through the deployment of decentralised digital technologies that will enable digitally self-reliant local communities. The company will create a network of entrepreneurs (business mentors) based in cities and towns across India who will independently run local eCommerce initiatives that will serve producers and consumers in their own circles or communities. The business mentors will also facilitate commerce between their communities and others that are on the eSamudaay platform.