The inaugural edition of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) – NITI Aayog State Workshop Series on Enabling Women-led Development through Entrepreneurship was organized at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) Auditorium, Goa on 3rd October 2023. The workshop was held in collaboration with the Government of Goa with a focus on the western region of the country.

The workshop recorded over 500 participants, including women entrepreneurs, local self-help groups (SHGs) and clusters, government officials, industry representatives, incubators/accelerators, financial institutions, philanthropic foundations, and more. The primary focus was deliberating on a hub-and-spoke model aimed at extending women-led development to grassroots levels, covering the last mile. Eminent dignitaries, including Dr. Pramod Sawant, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Goa, Dr. V. K. Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, and Shri B.V.R Subramanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog, graced this landmark workshop.

Dr Pramod Sawant, Honorable Chief Minister, Government of Goa, stated that the Goa State Vision 2047 will be prepared with help from NITI Aayog. Celebrating the three-year milestone of the Swayampurna Goa initiative, Dr. Sawant emphasized its focus on skill development and the deployment of "Swayampurna Grameen Mitras" for the doorstep delivery of government services in every block and Panchayat. Furthermore, the Chief Minister reiterated the role of women in socio-economic progress, announcing the Swayampurna e-bazaar during Dussehra, aimed at expanding market access through Common Service Centres.

Highlighting NITI Aayog's mandate for cooperative federalism, Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, emphasized the pivotal role of states in driving the nation's growth. He emphasized three key priorities: maintaining the employment-to-education ratio, promoting women’s entrepreneurship, and restructuring the workforce

NITI Aayog CEO, B. V. R. Subrahmanyam, reaffirmed the central government's unwavering commitment to women-led development as the top priority. He underscored NITI Aayog's support in assisting state governments to set up institutions like itself in each state “It need not necessarily be a separate institution; it could be a department or an existing body. But just make it the central point to think and plan for the future. Its staff should not be engaged in any other work,” he said while urging states to tap the expertise at NITI Aayog.

A series of new collaborations were announced to support women entrepreneurs. Key highlights are the partnership between the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and NITI Aayog; the launch of Udyam Uplift - an initiative of CAxpert to strengthen compliance among women-led businesses and the launch of the first two cohorts under WEP’s Award to Reward(ATR) initiative. The first ATR cohort led by WEP Partners Microsave Consulting and SIDBI titled WEP-Unnati is accepting applications from green entrepreneurs pan-India. The second cohort titled WeNurture would be led by Atal Incubation Centre - Goa Institute of Management.

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DS/LP