IIMK-NCW Join Hands to Launch Professional Programme for Early-Stage Women Entrepreneurs

10th May 2022

• IIM Kozhikode (IIMK) and National Commission for Women (NCW) to jointly develop and enhance skills of woman entrepreneurs through uniquely designed short term online professional courses.

• Foundation and Advanced online Programmes for early-stage women entrepreneurs, offered bilingually in English and Malayalam.

• Four-month, short-term programmes with total sixty hours of online and interactive learning and mentoring by IIMK’s Centre of Excellence for Social Innovation.

India’s Premier B-School, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode and the country’s leading statutory body for empowering women, National Commission for Women (NCW), have come together for a unique academic offering for women entrepreneurs. An opportunity for them to undergo professional training to launch their entrepreneurial career as well as a chance for existing women entrepreneurs to augment and scale up their businesses with professional mentoring.

This collaborative online training programme to nurture and build entrepreneurial capability among women entrepreneurs will be designed and executed by the Centre of Excellence for Social Innovation (CESI) of the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode in association with NCW and MyGov.in. To increase outreach and make the programme accessible, the programme will be offered bilingually in English & Malayalam. Aspiring women entrepreneurs can now chooses from two programmes dedicatedly designed as per their current careers and skillsets:

(a) Foundation Programme in Entrepreneurship: This introductory programmes is designed for women who are novices and want to enter the entrepreneurial arena. It will aim to develop the entrepreneurial skills required to identify a business opportunity and set up a business and the managerial capability to run the enterprise successfully. The pedagogy will include lectures, discussions, entrepreneurship talks, and significant mentoring from various subject matter experts.

(b) Advanced Programme in Entrepreneurship: Advanced Programme in Entrepreneurship is designed for women entrepreneurs who want to scale up their businesses. It will aim to augment their entrepreneurial skills in fine tuning their business model, expanding their markets, accessing funds, and diversifying their product or services. In addition, the programme will help enhance their managerial capability to run the enterprise. The pedagogy will include lectures, discussions, entrepreneurship talks, and significant mentoring from various subject matter experts.

Announcing the distinctive association Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director IIM Kozhikode, said “Innovation and Entrepreneurship are the buzz words around which the history of 21^st century will be scripted. Entrepreneurship has always been a gendered phenomenon, with a far lesser number of women choosing it as a road to empowerment. IIM Kozhikode is a pioneer in gender diversity and we strongly believe that collaborations like these will change the status quo and unleash the untapped potential of women entrepreneurs. It is now time to nurture women with entrepreneurship ambitions and develop the skills and perspectives that will help them set up and run sustainable businesses to make the world a better place.”

Speaking on behalf of NCW, Ms Meeta Rajivlochan, Member-Secretary of the Commission added “Women have a key role to play in the economic roadmap of India. In a knowledge economy, access to knowledge is crucial. Through this collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management, the National Commission for Women aims to facilitate such access to knowledge; to empower women entrepreneurs and to pave the way for a happy, balanced and prosperous India.”

Head, CESI IIM Kozhikode, Prof Priya Nair Rajeev further underlined the objectives and significance of introducing this unique & empowering programmes, “The entrepreneurship program for women reiterates IIMK’s commitment to women empowerment and social responsibility. By creating a bilingual programme, IIMK has made the best management education accessible to women who need it to improve their lives and lead their families and community to a better future.”

The duration of both online programmes is four months, with four hours of classes every week. It will comprise of sixty hours of learning which includes forty hours of subject sessions and twenty hours dedicated to mentoring and Q&A.

Application Link: https://innovateindia.mygov.in/entrepreneurship-program-for-women/