Women in Innovation is an initiative of Karnataka Government and SheThePeople.TV to promote women entrepreneurship.

Bangalore,3I.08.17-ndia’s Startup Capital, Bangalore witnessed some of the prominent female leaders of India Inc at the Women in Innovation Summit to elevate the entrepreneurship spirit in the women of Karnataka. Women in Innovation Summit in conjunction with ELEVATE 100 is a joint initiative of the Karnataka Government and SheThePeople.TV, and it is aimed at bringing to light the work done by women entrepreneurs and the challenges faced by the startups. The event was successfully concluded at Hotel Ashok Lalit, Bangalore, on August 30.

Women in Innovation Summit was also supported by Department of Information Technology and Biotechnology, Government of Karnataka which aims to provide a comprehensive entrepreneurship platform for startups.

A huge crowd of enthusiastic and cheerful ladies was there at the event to gain knowledge and clear doubts and queries regarding their entrepreneurship journey. Guiding the young blood regarding the entrepreneurship journey ahead, there were the key speakers namely Nivruti Rai of Intel, Ratna Prabha (Additional Secretary to Karnataka Government), Shaili Chopra (Founder of SheThePeople.TV), Salma Fahim, MD KBITS, Kanika Tekriwal (CEO at JetSetGo), Uma Reddy (Founder of eMerg and Hi Tech), Shanti Mohan (Founder of LetsVenture), and many other inspirational business women from various parts of the country.

 Blasting on the stereotyped thoughts of male counterparts, Nivruti Rai (General Manager & Country Head, Intel India) said, “It bothers me when people say that women are not good at Mathematics or cannot innovative. Let’s not create self-fulfilling prophecies.”

 Various business challenges that are common to women entrepreneurs, especially in the technical front were openly discussed in the panel discussion titled Internet of Things: Women on the Next Technical Revolution. In another panel discussion titled Scale & Surge: Secrets to Growing your startup, the team of experts present at the event provides comprehensive solutions for the shortcomings hampering the journey of a lady entrepreneur. schemes and programmes of the state government that have been developed to support women entrepreneurs in marketing, accounting, and legal matters would also be highlighted during the event.

While sharing his thoughts on Women in Innovation Summit, Shri Priyank Kharge (IT and Tourism Minister of Karnataka) said, “Bengaluru is the startup capital of India and we take immense pride in the fact that Bengaluru fosters the youngest entrepreneurs in the world and is also the world's fastest growing startup ecosystem. Our government has a fund for women entrepreneurs and we would like them to come and share their requirements and challenges with us. Hopefully, Women in Innovation Summit will be very helpful to develop effective communications between the government and women entrepreneurs." Earlier this year Mr. Kharge announced a fund of $1.4 Mn (INR 10 Cr) for women entrepreneurs of the state.

 Nivruti Rai, General manager- Intel India & VP of the Platform Engineering group, IntelCorp, enthralled the audience in a fireside chat with Shaili Chopra. “Organisations need to create environments of psychological safety. The perception that women do not take risks and aren’t mathematical needs to change. Build and leverage your network and create wonders for the world,” She said. “Intel has earmarked $14 million for women-owned/ women-related businesses this year and hope to increase it to $ 20 million by 2020,”she added to the cheers of the crowd.

 Appreciating government’s initiatives in forming Elevate 100, Shaili Chopra (Founder of SheThePeople.TV) said, “SheThePeople.TV is India’s no.1 digital media platform for women, dedicated to passionately championing and promoting their stories. We Empower, Engage and Elevate their efforts. I believe women deserve not just a big platform like Elevate 100 but also opportunities to meet and engage with the government. Karnataka has been miles ahead in making an effort for women through dedicated tech parks, a focused fund for female led startups and now the imitative to include Women in Innovation Summit as part of their Elevate 100 programme. I am delighted to see these efforts."