Shillong (Meghalaya),July 2: Dhriiti- The Courage Within in partnership with German government’s agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH has announced the launch of its application to the 2nd cohort of Her&Now for women entrepreneurs of Northeast India. The project promotes aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs with incubation and acceleration programme. Designed as a 7 month full-funded program, the selected women entrepreneurs are supported to equip themselves to build on their business ideas, grow and scale their ventures.
Last date for submission of application for Her&Now Cohort 2.0 is 5th July, 2020.
For the 1st batch, 80 women entrepreneurs from the Northeast India region were selected to be part of the programme. Over the course of the programme, the entrepreneurs were provide the opportunity to learn from mentors and industry experts through a series of capacity building sessions, one-on-one mentoring and customised support, peer connect and support community.
Speaking about the programme, Julia Karst, Project Head of Her&Now, GIZ said, “After a very successful first cohort with women entrepreneurs from almost all North-Eastern states last year, we are looking forward to providing support to more women entrepreneurs from the North East to start their new business and to scale up their existing enterprises this year. Her&Now offers support customised to each entrepreneur and her business, and we hope this will prove especially useful in these current challenging times. We would like to invite all interested women entrepreneurs from North East to apply to our programmes.”
“We have had a wonderful journey last year with the cohort of 80 amazing women entrepreneurs from the North East Region. Her&Now has been designed not only to provide incubation and acceleration support to the Women Entrepreneurs but also to build a strong community of Women Entrepreneurs that contributes to their resilience capital through good and bad times. Dhriiti is committed to bring more resources, better trainings and greater opportunities for the women entrepreneurs in the region,” said Nidhi Gupta, Executive Director, Dhriiti – The Courage Within.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is implementing the project ‘Economic Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs and Start-ups by Women’ in the country under the name of ‘Her&Now’, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and in partnership with the Indian Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MoSDE). The objective of the project is to improve the overall framework conditions for women-led businesses in India. The project is being implemented in Rajasthan, Telangana and North East Region. Dhriiti- The Courage Within is the implementation partner for North East Region.
Speaking about her experience, Rida Gatpoh, Co-founder, Dak Ti says, “Being a women entrepreneur can seem like fighting a lone battle but with partnerships like the Her&Now initiative one feels that they are not alone. This association has been an eye-opener in many ways, making me aware of my own capabilities and showing me the different possibilities.”
“Her&Now boosted my confidence and the journey of each women entrepreneurs inspired me. It is wonderful to share the journey with other women entrepreneurs and to know what they are doing. This programme has provided a support community that’s much needed.”, said Gwenda Ilaker Lyden, Founder of Dpei Café at Shillong.
Rida Gatpoh and Gwenda Ilaker Lyden were one of the 80 women entrepreneurs who were selected to be part of the programme for the 1st batch.
