Telangana's WE Hub Incubator teams up with the UK's Neobank Tide to support Women-Owned Small Businesses

By: WE Staff | Thursday, 25 August 2022

Telangana government's business incubator for women entrepreneurs: Skill, Labor, and Talent for MSMEs, WE Hub announced a year-long partnership with the UK-based SME-focused neobank Tide to support female entrepreneurs in India as they launch and expand their enterprises.

The incubator claimed that the partnership will advance Tide's India division of their "Women in Business" initiative, which aims to digitally transform companies in tier-II and tier-III regions and assist female entrepreneurs in overcoming logistical challenges in starting and growing their businesses.

The joint venture will concentrate on providing advice and training to female business owners regarding laws and compliances, accounting and financial planning, submitting tax returns, assisting with loan applications, and marketing and sales. According to the release, it will also promote peer training and networking among them.

In order to assist their engagement in the formal economy, Tide claims that the programme will benefit women not only in Telangana but also across India by allowing them access to the former's financial administration and advising services.

Importantly, just 20% of MSMEs in India are run by women entrepreneurs, according to the Ministry of MSME's Annual Report 2021. In addition, MSMEs with female leadership suffer a $158 billion credit deficit and rely 90% on unofficial sources of funding, slowing their rate of expansion, according to the statement.

Access to money, especially working capital, has always been a major problem for many women-led enterprises and SMEs, according to Deepthi Ravula, CEO of WE Hub.

“Many studies have shown that financial institutions have low confidence in growth prospects of women founders and startups. Another common challenge that women entrepreneurs face is with respect to access to mentors. Enabling access to credit is a fundamental intervention to overcome this challenge for entrepreneurs to start and scale in their entrepreneurial journey,” said Ravula.

Tide India's vice president for member operations, Kumar Shekhar, stated that the organisation aims to upskill businesswomen with the necessary technical and financial know-how and provide a reliable platform for them to achieve their professional objectives. By the end of 2027, Tide intends to have incubated 5 lakh women-owned small companies in India.