US-funded initiative to guide women entrepreneurs in Bihar

Women entrepreneurs in Bihar are likely to receive a boost to their prospects through a US-funded initiative that seeks to unleash value creation among aspiring young women in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India. As many as 30 aspiring entrepreneurs will get an opportunity to learn from experts based in India and the US at a four-day workshop to be held here under the aegis of Project AIRSWEEE (All India Road Show on Women's Economic Empowerment through Entrepreneurship), a statement of the US Consulate General at Kolkata said today.

Those attending the workshop from March 14 will be selected through a rigorous screening process and they will receive guidance from mentors of the TiE Global - "a non-profit venture devoted to entrepreneurs in all industries, at all stages," it said. The schedule was finalised on February 28 last when
Jamie Dragon, Public Affairs Officer of the US Consulate General in Kolkata and Director of the American Centre visited Patna, the statement said.

Besides the Bihar capital, similar workshops will be held at Lucknow, Hubli, Bhubaneswar and Vadodara - each of these to be attended by 30 young women entrepreneurs from the respective regions. "After these workshops, five participants from each city will receive intensive mentoring for another six months to develop some of their ideas into sustainable businesses" it said.

The project is funded by the US State Department through the Consulate General at Kolkata, which has been associated in other social welfare programmes in Bihar like the English Access Micro-scholarship as part of which English language skill is imparted to bright students from economically
disadvantaged background, the statement said.