Assam Startup collaborates with Contact Base and the US Consulate General Kolkata to organize a workshop to help women-led startups scale

It was a pleasure to collaborate with the U.S. Consulate General Kolkata and Contact Base (a social enterprise headquartered in Kolkata and having an office at Dibrugarh) to organize the mPowerBusinessWomen Meet at Assam Startup – the nest on April 17, 2023. Organized with an objective to build the capacity of women-led startups and women collectives in scaling up their business, the Meet was attended by around 50 women-led startups from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

15 business mentors, including experts from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, hosted sessions and engaged in one-to-one interactions with the women entrepreneurs in five consultation camps. Each of the camps focused on women-led startups’ challenges with branding, Go to Market strategies, fundraising, operations and logistics, and sales and customer acquisition.

The program further witnessed the business mentors sharing knowledge about the use of technology for streamlining the business flow and available government schemes and funding opportunities for rural women clusters doing business and for women-led startups.

Speaking at the event, Juan Clar, Deputy Director of the American Center Kolkata said,

“Entrepreneurship can play a key role in improving the economy, which could be achieved by giving a voice and greater representation to women in leadership roles.  Women are sometimes unaware of the potential they harbour within themselves. With the right mentoring and encouragement, they will shine as confident, smart and successful businesswomen with the strength and capability of making a mark for themselves in the business world.”

The mPowerBusinessWomen Meet was organized as part of a project by Contact Base and the U.S. General Consulate Kolkata – Women Wielding the Workplace – to increase women’s workforce footprint in South Asia by developing solution-based support networks towards enabling leadership of women in business and workplaces in South Asia. To this end, Contact Base and the U.S. General Consulate Kolkata launched a platform last year at Assam Startup – the nest, exclusively dedicated to mentoring and supporting women-led startups in East and North East India.

Women-led businesses and start-ups and business mentors can register on www.women4economy.net in order to be part of the mentoring network.