Sequoia India stated that it has partnered with Niti Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) intending to promote women entrepreneurs in India. Sequoia India’s, Sequoia Spark programme is currently in collaboration with Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) on a one-year partnership. They focus on empowering women entrepreneurs mainly in India and Southeast Asia. Studies say that due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many women entrepreneurs have lost their work.
As part of the partnership, Sequoia India will be guiding a selected group of aspiring women founders, and guidance will be provided to them regarding domain knowledge, and skills for setting up and scaling their business.
Senior advisor of Niti Aayog, Anna Roy has stated that the Sequoia Spark programme is designed in such a way to look at the challenges from their lens and aims to help them materially by accelerating the growth of their business. Earlier this year, Sequoia India had conducted a survey in which they found that 66% of women founders in India and Southeast Asia were interested to access mentorship sessions with inventors and business leaders. With this in mind, Sequoia India will be arranging monthly office hours for a group of 25 women entrepreneurs selected as part of the first group, in specific areas and issue statements, the statement said.
In the early stages, the team has decided to host webinars that are open to the larger WEP community around the key areas of company-building such as fundraising, building a go-to-market motion, attracting key talent, finding product-market fit, and leveraging the power of storytelling to create strong brands. During these sessions, challenges, and needs that are unique to women, entrepreneurs will be giving more attention.
Shweta Rajpal Kohli, Head- Public Policy of Sequoia Capital India LLP stated that, though India’s start-up ecosystem is a vibrant one, it is yet to be a diverse one. There are huge gaps in accessibility to network, mentorship, and fundraising visible in the society that creates fewer opportunities for women entrepreneurs. With help of this partnership, the Sequoia India team aims to equip women entrepreneurs with deep functional expertise.
