Women entrepreneurs: IIM Bangalore’s incubator NSRCEL and Goldman Sachs’ online business education programme for women 10,000 Women on Monday launched Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Finance for Growth. The new initiative will help women entrepreneurs with an enhanced understanding of business finance and provide mentoring and networking opportunities to accelerate their fundraising journey.
The new programme was based on the findings from a study of over 2,400 Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women graduates across India. A majority of women entrepreneurs had highlighted the need for a deeper understanding of the available funding options and how best to access external capital to drive business growth.
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According to the study, 40 per cent of women entrepreneurs used bank overdrafts while 38 per cent took business loans, and 33 per cent sought capital from friends or family for their business financing.
Charlotte Keenan, Global head of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, said, “Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women graduates have positively impacted India’s economy by quadrupling their business revenue, doubling their workforce, and collectively creating 12,000 new jobs. Our new initiative aims to help these women make an even bigger impact, by providing the tools and resources needed to access capital – the biggest barrier they face to growing their businesses further.”
The programme has three modules. Participants first take a basic finance module currently open for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women graduates in India. On successful completion of the first module, select high-potential women entrepreneurs will have access to the second advanced finance module and the final module will include bespoke mentoring from IIMB faculty members, finance industry experts, bankers, venture capitalists and angel investors on practical learnings and advice specific to the requirement of every entrepreneur.
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The programme “underlines our commitment to supporting women entrepreneurs across the country by providing them with relevant education and mentorship to grow and scale their ventures. We hope our women alumni make the most of this opportunity to spot and nurture new opportunities in business, build and grow successful ventures and transform themselves,” said Anand Sri Ganesh, COO, NSRCEL. The first cohort of the programme started on August 7, 2023.