- A collaborative effort between Meta and the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) aims to train 25,000 Indian women traders
- Through the use of the WhatsApp Business App, the program seeks to give participants digital skills
Through the WhatsApp Business App, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and Meta have started the "Vyaapar Sakhi" campaign, which aims to equip 25,000 women traders throughout India with critical digital skills.
In-person training sessions in several Indian languages will be provided during the program's first phase, which runs from June to November 2025. Through the training, female entrepreneurs will be able to advertise on WhatsApp, display their products, create automated responses, and establish a strong online presence.
The women's wing of CAIT will conduct the training sessions. The training course will be offered in multiple Indian languages, including English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu, and is specifically designed for women-led businesses. It is scheduled to run from June to November 2025.
Vice President and Head of Public Policy at Meta India, says the initiative is an important step in releasing India's enormous entrepreneurial potential. He underlined that providing women with the appropriate digital tools, especially in tier 2 and tier 3 towns can benefit their communities in addition to helping them expand their businesses.
In addition to product training, the sessions will include case studies of prosperous female entrepreneurs and motivational speeches by well-known female leaders, such as Smita Prakash and Anjana Om Kashyap, who will inspire attendees to follow their entrepreneurial dreams.
This program is a component of Meta's continuous effort to empower Indian small businesses by focusing on developing their digital skills. The "Vyaapar Sakhi" initiative builds on previous initiatives such as the "Ads Partner Excellence Program," "WhatsApp Bharat Yatra," and "WhatsApp Se Vyapaar," which was launched in partnership with CAIT to train 10 million local traders. When taken as a whole, these programs show Meta's continued dedication to building a network of small companies with digital capabilities across the country.
