After T-Hub, State launches WE-Hub exclusively for women

HYDERABAD: Giving a booster shot for wannabe women entrepreneurs, the Government of Telangana announced three key initiatives including setting up a We-Hub, an exclusive incubator run by women, for women. “After successful completion of Good and Services Tax (GST), we decided to roll out three initiatives for women entrepreneurs. We will create a `15 crore fund for them. We will set up We-Hub on the lines of T-Hub,” said IT minister K T Rama Rao. The focus on entrepreneurship and women startups in particular is not without reason.

The city is known for its contribution to the Indian IT industry, generating software exports in excess of `85,000 crore and employing over 4.5 lakh. Sadly, the sector is under siege and states like Telangana have to find a new growth vein. “The next wave of growth should come from startups.” Addressing media at the closing session of GES, 2017, Rao said THub was a public-private partnership between the government of Telangana, three of India’s premier academic institutes (the International Institute of Information Technology- Hyderabad, Indian School of Business and the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research) and private sector leaders.

The last of the initiatives include, enabling women entrepreneurs from small and medium enterprises to be part of State government procurement cycle. “Currently, 20 per cent of the government procurement comes from the private sector including MSMEs. We hope, at least, one-fourth of the mandated 20 per cent purchases come from women entrepreneurs,” Rao explained. With the successful completion of the summit, the government is hopeful that its hardwork would yield results.

The general view among officials is that the conclave has boosted the image of Hyderabad as ‘IT capital’ and will help the city get more investments. “Brand Hyderabad has drawn the attention of the entire world. New relationships forged at the mega event would surely help Telangana get more investments,” a top official of the ind u s t r i e s d e p a r t m e n t commented.

Moreover, IT minister KT Rama Rao is scheduled to visit the US on February 12 to deliver a lecture at the Harvard University. Sources said KTR would use the proposed visit to sell “brand Hyderabad” to clinch deals with firms that took part in the summit. He is also likely to woo tech majors like Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook to expand their operations in the State.