Women Entrepreneurship Platform 3.0

Ms Anna Roy, Sr. Adviser, Niti Aayog & Mission Director of WEP unveiling and explaining the WEP 3.0 platform
Ms Anna Roy, Sr. Adviser, Niti Aayog & Mission Director of WEP unveiling and explaining the WEP 3.0 platform

The idea for a women entrepreneurship platform was first proposed in 2017, to help resolve the information asymmetry that exists in the ecosystem.

The Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) was launched in 2017 and it is a first-of-its-kind, unified access portal which brings together women from different parts of India to build a nurturing ecosystem that enables them to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations. WEP achieves this by facilitating relevant information and services through key partnerships.

As an enabling platform, WEP is built on three pillars – Iccha Shakti, Gyaan Shakti & Karma Shakti

  • Iccha Shakti represents motivating aspiring entrepreneurs to start their business
  • Gyaan Shakti represents providing knowledge and ecosystem support to women entrepreneurs to foster entrepreneurship
  • Karma Shakti represents providing hands-on support to entrepreneurs in setting and scaling up businesses

As an aggregator platform, WEP hosts information and services relevant to women entrepreneurs. WEP enables key partnerships to bring crucial content, workshops, campaigns and other avenues of learning and growth to its users from trailblazers in the industry. Through its partnerships, services are provided in 6 main focus areas:

  1. Community and Networking
  2. Funding and Financial Assistance
  3. Incubation and Acceleration
  4. Compliance and Tax Assistance
  5. Entrepreneur Skilling and Mentorship
  6. Marketing Assistance
Ms Anna Roy, Sr. Adviser, Niti Aayog & Mission Director of WEP and Shombi Sharp, UN Resident Coordinator in India at the launch of the WEP 3.0 platform

The programming on WEP recognises three broad personas of women entrepreneurs.
The target audience for WEP is any woman 18 years and above. This is caveated by intent to start a business, intent to grow existing nano/ small business or scale existing large business. These personas are located in urban/rural areas. (tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 cities)

  • Aspiring Women Entrepreneurs – Women 18 years and above with an interest in starting a business or looking for cofounders, ideas, knowledge, and tools to get started on their entrepreneurial journey.
  • Existing women nano/ micro or small entrepreneurs who are already running businesses of their own. These entrepreneurs are keen to grow but need guidance to navigate the complexities and challenges that accompany growth.
  • Established Women Entrepreneurs – Women entrepreneurs who already run their own SME and are keen on scaling via innovation, access to capital, talent, etc.

WEP encourages entrepreneurs to share their entrepreneurial journeys, stories & experiences to nurture peer learning. All of this is further strengthened by the mentorship of industry players. WEP platform, as a driver of change, also promotes offline initiatives and outreach programmes to promote the entrepreneurial spirit among potential women entrepreneurs, in collaboration with partner organizations.

In 2021, the next phase of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) titled “WEP Nxt” was launched in partnership with CISCO. WEPNxt was driven by evidence-based decision-making. Cisco, in collaboration with the Nasscom Foundation, Sattva Consulting, and the DeAsra Foundation, enabled technology-led experiences and engagements to address the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs at individual and enterprise levels and create new opportunities for growth.

And now in the post COVID-19 scenario, the platform (WEP) 3.0, has been upgraded in design to cater to the unmet needs of women taking their first step towards entrepreneurship and those at an inflexion point in their entrepreneurial journey, thinking about growth and scale. The WEP 3.0 Platform is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and was managed by the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME). The Project has Microsave Consulting and several other domain experts coming together to contribute to making the Platform successful. The user interface and design of WEP 3.0 were revamped by HumanX Design, and the technology partner is Square Panda.

GAME was the Program Manager for the WEP platform from October 2023 to September 2023. The program management mandate entailed managing the platform end-to-end; and developing, operating and maintaining the portal serving women entrepreneurs across the country. As the Program Manager, GAME supported mentorship, access to finance, virtual incubation acceleration, onboarding partners, research and policy, and planning online and offline events for WEP members.

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