On the radar: Incubators working for women-led start-ups!

As much as women are taking up the business opportunities and being part of the start-up economy, so are other organisations coming up to help these early-stage start-ups with ample amount of resources, guidance and at times, even funding.

There are various organisations — both government and private — working towards it and if you have just started your organisation, check them out for timely assistance.

AIC Banasthali Vidyapith

Based in the world’s largest residential university for women, located in Rajasthan’s Tonk, this Atal Incubation Centre focuses on women-led startups. Supported by Niti Aayog, it has supported 181 start-ups and 136 micro entrepreneurs. It provides mentorship, funding opportunities, lab facilities and more.

WE Hub

Started by the Telangana government in 2018, this is said to be India's first state-led incubator for women entrepreneurs. Aiming to build a “powerful community of 1 million women entrepreneurs across India, thriving within a dynamic and supportive ecosystem”, they have incubated 6,376 start-ups and SMEs. With 177 crore raised by far, they also have the 75% rate for a start-up’s survival after two years.

Villgro

A community based in Chennai and Bengaluru previously known as Rural Innovations Network, is termed as a social enterprise incubator. For the last 23 years, the incubator program has been providing financial help with equity, debt, and grants, while also providing non-financial assistance like subsidised mentoring, specialist technical services and more.

STEP Incubation Program

For early-stage women-led social impact enterprises, the STEP incubation program run by C3 Collaborate can be helpful. Stands for Shakti – The Empathy Project, it offers mentorship, support for capacity building, networking, and funding opportunities, which include micro-grants of up to Rs 1 Lakh. The program also has a separate pre-incubation programme for those in the validation and prototype stage.

NSRCEL

The N. S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, a part of IIM Bangalore offers programs for women entrepreneurs, also including the popular Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Initiative. It has incubated more than 3,178 ventures and has been helping businesses to grow and survive for the last 20 years.

Womennovator Incubation School

Providing a 10-week digital incubation programme for women-led businesses across various sectors, this was launched in 2018 in more than 20 cities in India and has been working with more than 8000 women. Currently, they are working across more than 90 sectors to empower women entrepreneurs.