YES BANK-YES Global Institute launches Agenda 25×25
Delhi: YES BANK and YES Global Institute announced the launch of Agenda 25×25, which pledges to create a synergetic startup environment for budding women entrepreneurs in India, ensuring that by 2025 at least 25% of all Entrepreneurs in India are Women. The announcement was made at the YES BANK – YES Global Institute ‘Annual Startup Conclave’ hosted in partnership with NITI Aayog, Invest India, Startup India and Atal Innovation Mission.
The inaugural edition centering on the theme ‘Empowering Women for Entrepreneurship’, featured two highly engaging panels which deliberated on the need for creating an enabling ecosystem for accelerating Women Entrepreneurship in India. The Conclave witnessed the release of the YES BANK – YES Global Institute study ‘Putting Women First: Building the Start-up Ecosystem Ground Up’, which outlines Agenda 25×25 and the need to build a 10 Step Developmental Model of focused on empowering women innovators, catalysing investments, synergising collaborations and increasing economic opportunities.
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Deepak Bagla (MD & CEO, Invest India) and R. Ramanan (Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission) release whitepaper on ‘Empowering Women for Entrepreneurship’, in the presence of YES BANK officials
Commenting on the initiative, Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO, YES BANK and Chairman, YES Global Institute said, “The Indian startup landscape, with over 8 million women entrepreneurs, is at a focal point where an accelerated ‘pro-women centric’ change is of vital importance in order to galvanize India’s growth trajectory. It is projected that by 2025, India’s GDP will get an additional boost of 16%, by integrating women in the workforce. In order to achieve inclusive and equitable socio-economic growth for the nation, we must ensure that at least 25% of entrepreneurs in the country are women by 2025.”
Deepak Bagla, MD & CEO, Invest India said, “India is moving swiftly towards gender equality, with increased women participation in tier 2 & 3 cities. It is very heartening to note that initiatives such as Startup Yatra have covered 12 villages in just 4 months with the aim of nurturing innovative solutions and entrepreneurial talents of rural women.
R. Ramanan, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog said, “When over 48% of a country’s population is women, it is impossible to think of economic growth without women as the fundamental drivers of change. We need to aim at harnessing the full potential of women entrepreneurs, as we cannot be a nation of job seekers and must aim to become a nation of job creators. Let us ensure that women entrepreneurs succeed, for our nation to succeed.”
YES BANK also signed two agreements with iStart Rajasthan and FITT, IIT Delhi, wherein the bank will extend its in-house startup expertise, as part of its YES Head Startup program, in the form of mentorship and advisory services to startups associated with both institutions.
Key Panelists at the event included Ms. Rama Vedashree (CEO, DSCI); Ms. Sally Holkar (Co-founder, Rehwa Society); Mr. Avnish Sabharwal (MD, Accenture Ventures & Open Innovation); Ms. Padmaja Ruparel (President, IAN), Mr. Manu Shukla (Project Officer, iStart, Govt. of Rajasthan); Ms. Ritu Marya (Editor-in-Chief, Entrepreneur India); Vaibhav Agarwal (Founder & CEO, Inc42).