NIELIT launches Power of She to encourage woman entrepreneurship in Digital India

NEW DELHI: In its bid to support and encourage entrepreneurship among women, the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), a body with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India has launched a unique initiative “सक्ष-हम – Power of She” aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship among women under ‘Digital India’.

In this unique initiative, over 200 female students from NIELIT Centres spread across different geographical locations participated through the Smart Virtual Classrooms that facilitates live interactive session through Video Conference. These NIELIT students who are in the process of acquiring industry relevant skill sets in IT and Electronics were sensitized and encouraged to take up entrepreneurship development by a panel of experts comprising mainly of women entrepreneurs. While more such sessions are planned, the initial session was attended by students from NIELIT Centres at Chandigarh, Guwahati, Patna, Ajmer and Srinagar.

Dr. Ashwini Kumar Sharma, Director General, NIELIT unveiling the campaign said that women have an inborn trait towards entrepreneurship as they have to effectively manage a household. This needs to be honed so that they can step out and make a meaningful contribution to India’s economic growth. He further elaborated that with the increase in proliferation of IT and Electronics services, which has touched human lives in every possible manner, the need for entrepreneurship development in the digital space has grown manifold. Thus, these opportunities should be tapped in right earnest as it is said that “ If you teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime. But you teach a woman to fish, she’ll feed the whole village .”

The panel of expert included Ms. Vineeta Dixit, Public Policy & Government Relations at Google, Ms. Ruby Sinha, Founder, Women Entrepreneurs at Work ( www.weatwork.in ), Shri Sanjeeva Shivesh, Founder & CEO, The Entrepreneurship School and Ms. Prabha Shukla, Founding Director, EasyGov. The event witnessed enthusiastic participation and created the desired vibrancy among the student community. The keenness exhibited by many students to become an entrepreneur provided a meaningful insight into the changing times that is shaping up the “New India”.