The premier think tank NITI Aayog launched the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) on the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8th March 2018. The initiative is aimed at building an ecosystem for women across India to realize their entrepreneurial aspirations and not face gender barriers. The platform is for women to scale-up innovative initiatives and chalk-out sustainable, long-term strategies for their businesses.

The platform intends to promote women entrepreneurship by collaborating with various partner organisations; provide industry linkages and partner support to women entrepreneurs; increase the visibility of existing schemes, programmes and services across government and private sectors; identify and address issues and bottlenecks through appropriate channels; develop a national database through a centralised portal for registration of women entrepreneurs; and provide evidence-based policy recommendations to develop a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput is the recent addition to the list of Bollywood celebrities collaborating with government bodies to promote their key initiatives. “NITI Aayog has always emphasised the importance of reaching out to the youth and inviting them to engage with the various policies of the government. Sushant Singh Rajput, through his work and as a youth icon, embodies the energetic and spirited masses shaping the country’s growth narrative today. As brand ambassador of WEP, which already includes over a 1,000 women entrepreneurs, this partnership will further drive our mission to establish a vibrant, enabling entrepreneurial ecosystem for the women of the country”, said CEO Amitabh Kant, NITI Aayog, highlighting the importance of including young role-models in popularizing government initiatives.

“This is a public-private partnership in its truest form. We are collaborating with various agencies who are already working towards promoting women entrepreneurship. And we are very happy to announce that Sushant will not just lend his name and spread awareness about government initiatives, but he has also agreed to be an investor and put his money in start-ups,” said Anna Roy, Adviser (Industry), NITI Aayog.

This is the first time that Sushant Singh Rajput has been part of a government initiative and he was surely delighted to be associated with NITI Aayog. He said, “I was surprised to learn that NITI Aayog has been taking such great initiatives. Promoting women entrepreneurship is the need of the hour. Women contribute significantly to GDP and we should acknowledge that and promote participation from women in different services and areas. I would be happy if I can just act as a catalyst for this initiative.”

He also talked about his entrepreneurial venture and said, “I along with my partner Varun Mathur started a company called Innsaei. The company works on intellect IPs and exponential technologies. We understand what is missing in our economic structure. We primarily work on awakening the system and studying technology and algorithms. We have aligned with Niti Aayog on that level.” Innsaei will be setting aside a corpus of Rs. 20 crore, which shall be invested in start-ups established by women entrepreneurs.