Hyderabad, March 14, 2022: The India’s largest platform for women-led businesses, “The Business Women Expo 2022”, the three-day event held at Hitex concluded on Sunday night
It was hosted jointly by Hitex Hyderabad and COWE (Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs). The second edition was supported by TiE, Development Commissionerate of the Ministry of MSME, DICCI, HYSEA, FTCCI and others.
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150 women lead businesses showcased their products from across India. It was a first of its kind B2B and B2C exhibition. The exhibitors came from Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Delhi and many other states.
It had a food courts maintained by women food entrepreneurs. MSME supported 54 stalls through Procurement and Marketing Support (PMS) Scheme, she added.
D Chandra Sekhar, Additional Development Commissioner, MSME (Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises)-Development Institute during the inaugural address said that they have sponsored 54 women entrepreneurs to participate in Business Women Expo. Out of these 34 women are from Telangana and the rest 20 are from Gujarat and other states. We have spent Rs 20 lakhs on the same he told the gathering.
Women business owners can also travel abroad to promote their enterprises. For this, we have identified 700 exhibitions. They can apply for the same before March 15. We will give them Rs 1.5 lakh towards the flight ticket and Rs 3 lakh toward the participation. 40% of MSME programs are meant for women he added.
During the three day expo, the 3rd Edition of the TiE Women Pitch Competition held. 15 start-ups pitched to 11 investors. TiE Hyderabad also successfully conducted the TiE Investor Connect – Women Special Edition!
TiE Investor Connect is a platform that enables curated start-ups to present their business venture to top Indian PE/VC/Seed/Angel funds across the industry. This was the first session of TiE Hyderabad Investor Connect -2022 with a new approach and vibrancy and focused on Women Entrepreneurs. 15 Startups led/Co-led by Women Entrepreneurs, from the Early & Revenue stage from various sectors pitched to 11 Investors.
Out of the 80 applications received from women-led start-ups, a panel of the Investor Committee curated and lined up 15 Women Entrepreneurs from various sectors who presented their ventures to 11 Investors. For deeper dialogue, investors have shown interest in at least 10 startups and will further engage with them one on one. Sectors represented were Manufacturing, Technology, Education, Fashion, Food, Health & Wellness.
The TiE Women 2022 initiative was also unveiled. It was launched by Suresh Raju, President of TiE Hyderabad; Srikanth T.G, Business Head, HITEX; Purnima Kamble, Chairwoman of CII-Indian Women Network(IWN) Telangana; Ms Rashida Adenwala—Vice President, TiE, Hyderabad and others.
Addressing the gathering immediately after unveiling it, the TiE Hyderabad President Suresh Raju said, the pandemic paved the way for counting in more women into the workforce by providing work-from-home opportunities and nearly 26% of women workforce work from home. Women’s workforce is contributing 17% to our GDP and 28% of enterprises are managed by women. The government is playing its role, so also the corporates in encouraging more women to get into work. TiE Hyderabad has a big role to play he said.
Speaking further, Suresh Raju added that 100 plus women entrepreneurs from different countries are expected to participate in the TiE Global Summit to be hosted by the local chapter in December in Hyderabad.
Rashida Adenwala said it is a leading initiative of TiE across the globe. It is a pitch competition. It is launched to showcase Women Entrepreneurs from the state of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to a stellar global team and build a climate of inclusiveness. This is the only program serving as an opportunity for Women Entrepreneur to represent the two states to compete at Global Scale.
TiE Women over the past two years impacted 200 plus women entrepreneurs. And added 126 women to its network, Rashida shared. 30 mentors are dedicated to this initiative. A couple of these women were selected to pitch in SharkTank and got funded to the extent of Rs 56 crore she said. Shark Tank is a reality show that facilitates entrepreneurs making business presentations to a panel of investors or sharks, who decide whether to invest in their company.
Madhu Tyagi, Vice President of COWE informed that B2B Meetings were held in 4 industry verticals like Hospitality, Health Care, Retail and Manufacturing. Through these meetings, businesswomen were connected to potential customers.
A job drive was also conducted by Qentelli and Progress. The expo had a food entrepreneur pavilion, which is a platform for food entrepreneurs and food innovators. The foodpreneur pavilion has 30 stalls.
