From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Mar 10: Chief minister B S Yediyurappa assured that the state government is ready to provide all support to women entrepreneurs and would consider the demands of the UBUNTU consortium immediately.
He also promised support to women entrepreneurs in district-level too in order to empower them.
He was speaking after the launch of ‘Xcelerator Bangalore', (XB) a curated 6-month accelerator programme, for supporting and scaling women-owned micro-businesses of Karnataka, at MV Auditorium of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Yediyurappa said the budget has earmarked Rs 37,188 crore for women centric programmes.
The state government is encouraging small-scale/micro-entrepreneurs, working women, employees, rural self-help groups through various initiatives including the prominent Elevate Women programme.
The launch was jointly organised by the UBUNTU Consortium of Women Entrepreneurs' Associations, FKCCI and Global Alliance For Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME).
Highlighting women entrepreneurs' participation in the UBUNTU consortium from 26 women's associations, UBUNTU president, KSDA chairman and former chief secretary Ratnaprabha requested the chief minister to set aside a fund of Rs 1 lac each for every district to uplift women entrepreneurs in the state.
She also pressed on the need for women entrepreneurs' parks for every woman in all the districts and thanked the chief minister for giving a women-centric, gender-sensitive budget for the year 2021-22.
Madan Padaki, co-founder of GAME, referring to Subbammana Angadi (Subbamma's shop) from Basavanagudi, said that there are thousands of women entrepreneurs in the state like Subbamma, who need the push to grow.
Launch of Xelerator Bangalore is a step towards empowering women entrepreneurs, he said.
President of FKCCI Perikal M Sundar, Small Scale Industries minister C C Patil, co-founder of GAME Madan Prasad, SIDBI deputy manager V Satya Venkata Rao, and others were present on the occasion.
Panel discussions on strategies to reach and scale 50,000 women-led enterprises and celebration of entrepreneurial journeys were held on the occasion.
President of UBUNTU Ratnaprabha, Jyoti Balakrishna, honorary secretary of UBUNTU, V Satya Venkata Rao, deputy managing director of SIDBI, Madan Padaki co-founder of GAME, Suresh Bhagavatula, professor of Entrepreneurship, Dr I S Prasad, senior vice-president of FKCCI, Vasudha Mohan, Bhogaraju Foods, Bharathi Kamath, Farewell Facilities, Ivy Manohara, Filmapia, Rupa Rani, chairperson of women entrepreneurs' committee, FKCCI, and other experts took part in the panel discussions.