Tag: women entrepreneurship

WEFT helping women set up and scale their businesses

Woman Entrepreneurs for Transformation (WEFT) created by Iti Rawat is a NGO to provide support and a networking platform for women entrepreneurs. With WEFT, Iti is able to aid women to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.

Woman Entrepreneurs for Transformation (WEFT) created by Iti Rawat is a not-for-profit organisation to provide support and a networking platform for women entrepreneurs. 

With WEFT, Iti is able to aid women to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. 

“There are not enough incubators dedicated to women. Venture capitalists and investors see them from gender-biased lenses; they are not given equal opportunities. They are also expected to take care of the household and look after their children while running their startups, whereas their male counterparts are expected to only take care of their business,” she explains. 

Started in August 2018, WEFT has over 1,000 women entrepreneurs in its network. 

WEFT organises events such as open mics, speak-up events, marketing events, and pitching competitions to help entrepreneurs get funding and network with investors and like-minded people for growth opportunities. It also helps them build a network of clients, referrals, and vendors, and share their ideas and resources. 

Apart from events, WEFT highlights and recognises women entrepreneurs through video blogs and series, and awards and recognition. 

Women entrepreneurs can become a member of the network by paying an annual membership of Rs 5,000, and access to all the resources, events and opportunities provided by WEFT. 

“We are working towards a sustainable development goal of 50:50 gender equality in startups. This will take all-round development, starting from awareness building to recognition and rewards,” Iti says. 

Iti was awarded the ‘Social Leader of the Year’ award by the Indian Business Women group in 2019. 

Social entrepreneur Ruchi Jain delivers farmers’ produce to places like Taj Palace Hotel

Social entrepreneur Ruchi Jain’s fifth venture named “Taru Natural” sells 5- gram jaggery sachets to India’s leading hotel and cafe chains.

Social entrepreneur Ruchi Jain’s fifth venture named “Taru Natural” sells 5- gram jaggery sachets to India’s leading hotel and cafe chains that includes Taj Palace Hotel, Blue Tokai, Suzette Creperie, Smokehouse deli and many more.

She has completed her Master’s degree in Environment Change and Management from the Oxford University.

The idea of selling jaggery 5-gram sachets came into her mind when she got in touch with farmers who were not able to sell their farm products including jaggery.

She used to go on field visits to different villages in India as a government official under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. She was working on rural electrification project funded by the World Bank between 2012 and 2014.

“That trip was a big game changer and I realised it’s more important to work on integrated development of farmers who are the backbone of the country”. She left her job in 2014 and decided to work full time serving the rural market and helping them organise their supply chain for reaching the right customers.

She founded organic farming startup Taru Naturals in 2016, taru meaning ‘tree in Sanskrit’. With this farmer-focused startup, Ruchi hopes to safeguard the interest and livelihood of farmers operating on fragmented land by helping structure what she saw as a ‘highly disorganised sector of organic farming’ with an erratic supply chain.

Her mother Poonam Jain, who is a co-founder of Taru Naturals is responsible for research and development department. She is a naturopathy expert and has always been experimental while practising organic farming in their backyard.

Ruchi says a great deal of research and development work went in developing their 5-gramme jaggery powder sachets.

They are now looking to enter the B2C market, some of its bestselling products include turmeric latte, khapli wheat flour, sourdoug and so on.