Interactive Session with Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Govt. of India on ‘Invest in Her’: Women Entrepreneurship, Trade and Commerce

FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) organised an interactive session with Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Govt. of India on July 25, 2022.

Investing in women and attention to their employment opportunities and empowerment, pays huge dividends in terms of economic development. As one of the oldest and most active business chambers for women, FLO has been working in this direction since 1983.

One of the most dynamic political leaders of India, Shri Piyush Goyal shared his inputs on the need to ‘Invest in Her’. He also highlighted the initiatives of the government to boost women entrepreneurship and beyond.

“In all sectors, we want to become a global industry. We want to capture the world market. India has been a powerhouse of strong women across fields: Be it sports, Business, Science & Technology. We invite all the young and women entrepreneurs to come forward to make investments and contribute for the growth of the Nation’”, said Shri
Piyush Goyal.

“The Centre is working actively with different countries to finalise Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and talks with United Kingdom (UK) are in final stages which will give zero duty access to various business sectors in world market. Due to the various policy initiatives taken by the Government and the hard work put in by the industry country to boost exports.  He stated that the country would reach 30 trillion economy from the level of 3 trillion economy and the government has been aggressively addressing all the structural issues including the tariff barriers, issues in taxation, global competitiveness,” Mr Goyal said.

“When girls are empowered, then countries become stronger & more prosperous, we have to strengthen our Nari Shakti, as Prime Minister said, ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao”, he added

The minister also released a Dossier with government policies for women entrepreneurship and Trade and formally unveiled the FLO Start-up mentor ship platform at the event

“There are a number of challenges women in business face like unconscious biases, challenges in export opportunities, creating and meeting right trading partners, challenges in accessing investments and finance. FLO  as part of its initiative of  Empowering Women Through Trade & Business proposes to create a concerted platform for the exchange of information, experience, visibility, and connectivity among women business owners, setting the stage for new opportunities and joint ventures among women entrepreneurs and business leaders, said
Ms Jayanti Dalmia, President, FLO.

“This year, FLO’s National Initiatives are driven by a three- pronged agenda to facilitate women’s economic empowerment- Industrial Initiatives, Empowerment Initiatives and Transformative Initiatives.”, she added.

Dr Aarti Gupta, National Head gave a presentation on the FLO National Initiative: Start Up & Innovation.

A presentation on FLO National Initiative: Empowering Women Through Trade & Business was also made by National Head, Dharitri Patnaik.

Kamini Saraf, Governing Body Member, FLO was the Day Chair and Poonam Mahajan, Treasurer, proposed the Vote of Thanks.

FLO Startup Cell has been supporting and encouraging its entrepreneurs. Today we would like to take this opportunity to recognize 5 of our startups doing amazing work in different sectors PAN India. This is an attempt to show the depth of the organization and the potential its members have.

Our first flopreneur we would like to recognize is

Simran Sahani, founder of Keeros from Lucknow Uttarpradesh

Keeros is India’s first brand of awesome tasting Supersnacks & Superfoods that are certified Diabetic friendly & healthy for All. In 2018 they identified a huge gap in ‘Superfoods for Diabetics’ market which will have 15 crore+ diabetics by 2025. Today Keeros is available on 20+ Ecommerce portals, their website, E Vending machines and 500+ stores in Delhi & 7 major cities in north India. I

Our second flopreneur we would like to recognize is

Naina Parekh, founder of EUME brand from Mumbai Mahrashtra, Naina, under her brand EUME has innovated the worlds 1st massager backpack which is patented worldwide and has now launched India’s 1st collection of handbags which are bold and expressive and match the international standards and trends . A staunch believer in Indian creativity aimed at making her Indian brand go Global and that’s where EUME is. Ms Naina Parekh has bagged several awards like the international tri country Women’s award, Economic Times best
entrepreneur award and many more .

Our third flopreneur we would like to recognize is

Ankita Khabia, founder of Active Moo Farms from Indore, Madhya Pradesh who is building a sustainable and healthy A2 Cow milk direct to consumer brand. (Video has audio)

Our fourth FLOprneuer we would like to recognize is

Priyanka Agarwal, cofounder Rongo, from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Rongo is an app that focuses on “Behtar Kheti, Behtar Kamai” (better farming, better income) by providing Indian farmers with weekly advisory on best agricultural practices and minimising their risk against pest, disease, nutritional deficiency and weather. Rongo does this while taking into account challenges such as low literacy levels, aged demographics, limited access to internet and low end devices. Rongo is currently available for 13 major crops such as maize, rice and wheat in 3 languages.

Our fifth FLOpreneur we would like to recognize is

Divya Jain, founder of Seekho from Delhi. Seekho is a AI enabled career accelerator and upskilling platform solving for employability for both candidates and corporates. Seekho is democratizing education through a low cost subscription model. It has been seed funded by Sequoia’s surge fund and earlier in the year closed $3 million Pre-series A round. The company is already touching a revenue of $ 5 million and expects to enable 7 million users by the end of 2023.