The Management and Entrepreneurship and Professional Skills Council (MEPSC) has announced the creation of a new Qualification Standard on Entrepreneurship with a significant focus on women entrepreneurship as a major step toward eliminating gender-based barriers that pose significant obstacles to women entrepreneurs across India together with Empower Foundation and the Indo-German Development Cooperation Project ‘Economic Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs and Start-ups by Women (Her&Now)’ commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in partnership with the Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India.
This new Qualification Standard was validated through industry interactions taking place at India Habitat Centre on 14 July 2022. Post validation, the new Qualification Standard will be submitted for approval by the National Skills Qualification Committee.
Entrepreneurship represents a significant opportunity to increase the participation of women in the economy and to realise India’s growth potential. Social norms on the role of women in the economy and at home result in numerous barriers that impede women from starting and running their own enterprises. Hence today, only 20% of enterprises in India are owned by women. The new national qualification standard on entrepreneurship includes a significant focus on overcoming gender-based barriers for women wanting to start their own enterprises, through two electives.
Col. Anil Pokhriyal, CEO of MEPSC, stated: “Entrepreneurship plays an important role in shaping the society of a fast-developing country like India. Enterprising women have cast entrepreneurial talents which could be harnessed to convert them from the position of job seekers to job givers. The Qualification on Entrepreneurship specially focussed on women will imbibe the requisite skills to be successful in their entrepreneurial journey.”
Adding to it, Pritha Dutt, CEO of Empower Foundation, said: “Promoting Women Entrepreneurship can be a very effective way to increase income and quality of life and to improve the Gender Gap Index in India. Having an institutional mechanism of training through the Qualification Pack will inspire hundreds of women across the country to take the first step towards their entrepreneurial journey.”
Julia Karst, Head of Project Her&Now, GIZ India, added: “By integrating a focus on women entrepreneurship into the new Qualification Standard on Entrepreneurship, we hope to address one significant barrier faced by women entrepreneurs in India, namely a lack of business management skills. We hope that many aspiring women entrepreneurs will be able to benefit from training under this new standard.”
The event was graced by Ms. Vinita Aggarwal, Executive Member, National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET), Government of India, along with other industry leaders, practitioners, business mentors and entrepreneurs from the start-up ecosystem. Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Vinita Aggarwal stated: “Entrepreneurship is the way forward to realise the aspiration of a five trillion dollar economy and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
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Women entrepreneurs will play a key role in this journey and the government’s policy initiatives are already committed to promoting their growth in the country.”
