Nasscom Foundation & HSBC India to equip 4,000 women entrepreneurs with Digital Skills

By: WE staff | Wednesday, 2 April 2025

• Nasscom Foundation and HSBC India are backing up four thousand feminine entrepreneurs
• The program is aimed at the women in Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal
• Gives mentorship and social media onboarding to participants

The Nasscom Foundation is collaborating with HSBC India. The partnership is robustly preparing rural female entrepreneurs for the digital economy. The goal of their "Upskilling Women Entrepreneurs and Enhancing their Participation in Digital Economy" program is to train 4,000 female entrepreneurs in Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.

The program will provide end-to-end support to women, including intensive digital and financial literacy, entrepreneurship development, business and e-governance applications, as well as handholding support and onboarding on various social media platforms.

The limited digital and financial literacy of women in rural areas restricts their full use of digital tools and access to e-commerce platforms for the growth of their businesses. The data indicate that enterprises owned by women in rural areas provide employment for 22-27 million people. The entrepreneurs of these enterprises have problems with accessibility of formal credit, lack of policies in the mid-range for their development, and a lack of business development services for marketing, technology, advice.

Jyoti Sharma CEO of Nasscom Foundation stressed that “The inequality of economic participation is a deeply rooted issue, and it is a big challenge of our time. This initiative is an example of our commitment. Technology is a powerful tool for inclusion and creating equal opportunities, and we strive to promote digital inclusion to benefit the wellbeing, economic security and resilience of women. We are pleased to team up with HSBC India to develop and support innovative, technology-enabled solutions that empower women in India, and to work towards a future that is not only more just, but also more inclusive for all”.

Mamatha Madireddy Head of HSBC Global Service Centres, India, said, “Inclusion at HSBC defines who we are and how we approach it holistically. We aim to build an inclusive environment with our customers, employees, and communities. I believe growth comes with empowerment. Use of technology will help women to enhance and grow their entrepreneurial skills and also will help to break boundaries. Our collaboration with Nasscom Foundation and ‘Tech for Good’ is amplifying the scale of the program in terms of how broadly we are able to cover, enabling us to create an inclusive environment for women in underserved communities.”

Amar Kutir Society for Rural Development is implementing the Project in West Bengal, Sewa Bharat in Delhi NCR, Head Held High Foundation in Karnataka, DHAN Foundation in Telangana, and Tamil Nadu. The initiative is strategically rolled out in phases to ensure a comprehensive and impactful approach.

Phase 1: Mobilization each target state Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will select three districts. Mobilizers will work with 350 women entrepreneurs per district, for a total of 5,000 participants.

Phase 2: Capacity Building the goal is to train 4,000 participants in digital, financial, and entrepreneurial skills and government schemes, both at basic and advanced levels. Training will include social commerce, entrepreneurship, financial management, business management, and government schemes modules to help them grow their businesses. This will be followed up with offline support to answer questions and ensure digital preparedness.

Phase 3: Business Enablement the last phase will help 2,000 women entrepreneurs to provide business registration, digitized accounting and access to finance (on-demand). These will enable women to scale their businesses and succeed in the digital economy.

Here is a support frame to empower and ensure sustainable growth among women entrepreneurs. It is continuous process and this is initiative that gives women entrepreneurs the knowledge and ability to flourish in the digital economy. By overcoming these technological barriers women entrepreneurs will have the ability to enter new markets, grow their businesses and create more employment opportunities.