DECEMBER 20238EMPOWERING HERSTORY BY TAKINGTHE STARTUP JOURNEYomen have come across a long way from their kitchen to the founder of an organization. They have vanquished all the thorns in their way and extracted rose from it. Women have endured a long period of sufferings, denial, and violence but nothing could dominate them from flying high up. Women entrepreneurs have to overcome a wide variety of obstacles such as conscious or unconscious gender bias, smaller networks in comparison to men, or even personal insecurities and poor confidence that plague women to a lesser extent. Standing on the threshold of 21st century, women have made up around 67 percent of the work force. The increasing presence of women as entrepreneurs has led to significant business and economic growth in the country. The new decade is being the prime witness of such remarkable achievements of women. The percentage of startups established in emerging locations rose from 34 percent in 2021 to 39 percent in 2022."The girl who wakes up every day with a dream will transform into a woman with strong vision."India continues to play a dominant role taking the third spot in the global startup sector with at least 25,000-27,000 active tech startups. More recently, women have made progress in creating a solid foundation for more females to join the workforce.Contribution of Government towards Uplifting the Women's StatusStarting a venture is not an easy task as it seems, it needs a pool of capital, planning, idea of the market, technical knowledge to bring the whole thought into action. Indian government is contributing to the upliftment of the women by conducting workshops, incubator programs. President Droupadi Murmu, in October 2022, had inaugurated `herSTART', a platform to encourage women entrepreneurs. The government of India has also introduced a monthly allowance of 20,000 for up to one year for women-led startups. Startup India is a platform through which government initiatives are reachable for us.The whole scenario of Indian startup ecosystem is going through a massive shift. Entering of women in the ecosystem has significantly fostered the growth of the country from the grass-root level. In India, Bengaluru is becoming the focal point of women-led startups, with 1,783 ventures, followed by Mumbai (1,480) and Delhi (1,195). Noida, Kolkata and Ahmedabad are also making notable contributions, ranking eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively, showcasing the geographic distribution of women entrepreneurs in India. Karnataka government started to provide a grant-in-aid of Rs.50 lakh to encourage women innovators in need of early-stage funding, which has drastically magnified the number. The Silicon Valley of India has attracted the whole country by the slew of initiatives from incubation programs, grants and fellowships offered to women-founded startups.The progress of a nation will be blocked, if all the doors are locked for women!!Here in this article I will be throwing light on those Top 5 Bangalore-based women startups that are holding up the spirit of entrepreneurship and encouraging the women of India.WSC COLUMN8 DECEMBER 2023Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world - Hillary Clinton
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