UP Government to Provide Free E-Commerce Training to 150 Women Entrepreneurs

By: WE staff | Monday, 28 April 2025

• Free e-commerce training by Uttar Pradesh government for 150 women entrepreneurs
• Women-targeted training to be linked to the 'One District One Product' (ODOP) programme
• Program will include online trading fundamentals, onboarding, and branding basics

The Uttar Pradesh government will provide free e-commerce training to 150 women entrepreneurs who are aligned with the 'One District One Product' (ODOP) scheme. The training will provide foundation-level skills such as online trading, onboarding, branding, digital marketing, and reaching national and international markets.

District Industries Promotion and Entrepreneurship Development Centre's Assistant Commissioner, Vinod Verma, informed that a private firm, Yuki, would be organizing the two-day workshop from Monday. A unique feature of the workshop is that it will have all-women trainers and trainees.

Varanasi alone has more than 100,000 artisans associated with the ODOP scheme, of which women constitute approximately 25 percent. The turnover from ODOP products in the area annually is approximately ₹1,500 crore. As the ODOP scheme has been a global success, the Yogi government is now targeting empowering women entrepreneurs to access global markets.

Female practitioners of Varanasi's prestigious ODOP handicrafts — Banarasi silk, enamelling pink, lacquer work, and wood toys (all Geographical Indication (GI)-labelled items) — stand to gain from these trainings. These trainings are going to be conducted by Yuki, which is a South Indian association involved in women upliftment and empowerment.

GI specialist Dr. Rajnikant informed that Varanasi's ODOP products have an annual trade of around ₹1,600 crore, of which exports amount to around 30 percent. Pink enamelling state awardee Jaya Singh appreciated the efforts of the government and said, "The Yogi government's inclusion of pink enamelling as a product under ODOP and its regular promotion has hugely helped artisans. With e-commerce training, we will now be able to sell our products in global markets as well."