AP to set up exclusive park for women entrepreneurs at Anakapalle: Amarnath
The park will come up in an area of 50 acres to give a fillip to entrepreneurship among women
Visakhapatnam; Asserting that the YSRCP government is committed to encourage women-led development in a big way, Minister for Industries, Commerce and IT Gudivada Amarnath announced that they will set up an exclusive women entrepreneurs' park at Anakapalle.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a two-day workshop and pitching for women entrepreneurs organised here by Startup India in collaboration with AP Innovation Society, National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), AP Government and Software Technology Parks of India (STPI).
The workshop comprised in-depth sessions providing insights into the startup ecosystem, Startup India support mechanisms for women entrepreneurs and pitching sessions for DPIIT Women Startups - a platform for eligible startups to present their propositions. The day-one of the event also saw signing of MoUs with EdVenture School Pvt Ltd, Antennae Ventures Pvt Ltd, Head Start Network Foundation and We Founder Circle Pvt Ltd.
Amarnath said the proposed park will come up in an area of 50 acres to give a fillip to entrepreneurship among women. The Minister said the government is not only implementing various welfare schemes like Amma Vodi and YSR Cheyutha but also distributing house-sites and other assets in the name of women as part of commitment for their empowerment and inclusive development. He said women always play a pivotal role in fostering innovation and strengthening the economy with careful planning and execution.
He also directed Kona Sasidhar, Principal Secretary, IT to set up women's cells in all the 32 incubation centres for paving the way for proper hand-holding, mentoring and providing IP support and access to funding to convert their startups into successful business ventures and hoped that some of them will transform into unicorn companies.
Harping on the New Industrial Policy, he said encouraging a paradigm shift in the mindset of youngsters to become entrepreneurs and reinforcing the startup ecosystem by establishing Centres of Excellence and incubation centres in frontier technology areas, promoting translational research works in futuristic sectors and strengthening industry-academia interface are on top of their agenda.
He also cited a recent report released by NASSCOM and Deloitte on listing three cities in AP viz. Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati among 26 cities identified as emerging tech hubs in India.
Sasidhar earlier said women-led tech hubs are doing a wonderful job and described how India has emerged as the third largest country in the recent Global Innovation Index. He said diverse perspectives will always propel innovation.
ITAAP State president Lakshmi Mukkavilli advised budding women entrepreneurs to develop skills for resilience, make use of innovations and advances in technology. APIS CEO T Anil Kumar said the AP Government is committed to develop a strong startup ecosystem by networking all the stakeholders including mentors, venture capitalists and IP experts so as to offer solutions to various challenges.
NASSCOM CoE on IoT & AI CEO Sanjeev Malhotra, STPI Telangana and AP Director CVD Ram Prasad, Startup India Assistant Manager Khushbu Verma and Member, Executive Committee, Women Entrepreneurship Platform, NITI Aayog, Yashodhara Bajoria, spoke.
