IIT-Delhi to mentor, train 30 women entrepreneurs

The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi has launched a mentorship programme under which 30 women entrepreneurs will be trained for three months to work on their start-ups.

The Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi has launched a mentorship programme under which 30 women entrepreneurs will be trained for three months to work on their start-ups.

The Women Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Premium Mentorship programme will be launched on October 1 and is free of cost.(Handout)

The IIT will also help them get funds.

The Women Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Premium Mentorship programme will be launched on October 1 and is free of cost.

“Only 10% of all the startups are owned by women. We want to change this and ensure that at least half the number of entrepreneurs in our country is women. For this to happen, we need to take initiatives to help women entrepreneurs realise their dreams,” said V Ramgopal Rao, director of IIT-Delhi.

The 30 chosen women entrepreneurs will be trained by the institute’s FITT (Foundation for Innovation & Technology Transfer) and the WEE (Women Entrepreneurship and Empowerment) Foundation for three month.

“Our campus will be available to them. IIT professors and industry experts will train these women to work on their projects. Mentoring is important, as we notice that students have many ideas but due to lack of guidance they don’t know how to go about implementing them,” Rao said.

The programme is open for women candidates, including students, and there is no minimum qualification to apply. “Applicants will have to give a presentation about their ideas. Anybody — students, homemakers or professionals — can apply for this. The last date to apply is August 21,” said Sarandeep Singh, the programme director.

Application forms are available on www.weefoundation.org.

During the three-month programme, the 30 entrepreneurs will have interactions with venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, mentors and visits to incubation centre.

“There will be classes on business and financial ideas so that the candidates get acquainted with issues they may face while working on their start-up,” said Singh.