NCW launches course to support digital learning among 5,000 women entrepreneurs

NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Thursday launched a business and management course to support digital learning among 5,000 aspiring women entrepreneurs, and the third phase of 'We Think Digital', an online programme on digital literacy in collaboration with Facebook and Cyber Peace Foundation. Under the 'Empowering Women through Entrepreneurship' programme, selected women entrepreneurs will get a special chance to be mentored and incubated by knowledge and mentoring partner after completion of the course, the apex women rights body said.

The NCW has collaborated with the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and India SME Forum, the country's largest not-for-profit organization for small and medium enterprises, for the online training programme. It will be sponsored by the National Commission for Women for all 5,000 selected aspiring women entrepreneurs and will be delivered by IIM Bangalore.

The commission also launched the third phase of We Think Digital, a global digital literacy program run by NCW, Cyber Peace Foundation and Facebook aimed at providing digital literacy training to effectively use online resources and grievance redressal mechanisms to women across states including, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Bihar. In 2018, it was launched as 'Digital Shakti' campaign under which 60,000 women across India were imparted digital literacy and trained in online safety.

"Entrepreneurship is the state of mind which every woman has in her but has not been capitalized in India in a way in which it should be. Women entrepreneurship development is an essential part of human resource development. "Any strategy aimed at economic development will be lop-sided without involving women who constitute half of the world population. Empowerment is the process through which women are made capable to gain access to opportunities and make their own decisions, and one of the best ways to empower them is by making them financially autonomous," said NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma.