Transforming women’s lives through economic enablement
About Advancing Women Entrepreneurship (AWE):
We believe that enabling women economically is not only a critical path to eradicating poverty, but also to achieving gender equality and sustainable development. Our AWE vertical invests in women’s transformative journey towards breaking barriers and challenging biases to reach their full potential. We use Grameen’s AWE Framework to design and deliver strategic interventions and define the outcomes to address the multifaceted gender barriers faced by women engaged in economic activities, especially in enterprises.
How We Work: Advancing Women Entrepreneurship (AWE)
Our approach is centered on empowering women entrepreneurs to scale their businesses and achieve sustainable growth. We work by:
- Family Engagement: Household dialogues and intra household discussions ensure that all members of a household (especially men) encourage women to have agency, decision making, and the time, ability to engage in an economic activity to earn income and grow.
- Capacity Building: We provide comprehensive training and support to enhance the business management skills of women entrepreneurs. This includes areas such as sales, marketing, financial performance, customer engagement, and digital strategy, ensuring they are well-equipped to lead and grow their enterprises..
- Access to Financing: We facilitate connections to debt financing mechanisms, providing these women with the necessary financial tools and resources to fuel the expansion of their businesses. Our focus is on making them investment-ready, enabling them to access credit and other financial services to support their growth.
- Ongoing Support: We offer continuous mentorship and guidance, helping women navigate the challenges of business growth and ensuring they remain on track toward their long-term goals.
Through these efforts, AWE aims to create a thriving ecosystem of women-led small businesses that contribute to economic development and gender equity.
PARTNERSHIPS WE LEVERAGE TO STRENGTHEN OUR PROGRAMS UNDER AWE:
Under AWE (Advancing Women’s Entrepreneurship), we have established strong partnerships that are central to the success of our programs:
- Institutional Partnerships: Collaborate with sector-specific institutions for specialized training.
- Government Partnerships: Engage with government bodies to leverage schemes, formalize businesses and secure licenses.
- Financial Partnerships: Streamline debt financing through partnerships with banks, microfinance institutions and financial service providers.
- Marketing Partnerships: Collaborate with branding experts and marketing agencies to enhance product branding and packaging.
- E-commerce Platforms: Partner with e-commerce platforms to expand market access and sales potential.
- Entrepreneurship Support Organizations: Collaborate with entrepreneurship-focussed organizations (specifically women led organizations), for shared learning and resource exchange.
- Technical Partnerships: Collaborate with experts and organizations providing technical support and sector-specific knowledge.
These partnerships have collectively contributed to a comprehensive support system that addresses various aspects of entrepreneurship, from training and financing to marketing and distribution, ensuring the success and sustainability of the businesses we work with.
OUR REACH: 1000 entrepreneurs working with us across the programs, with an outreach of over 1 lakh customers. Additionally, we are supporting over 200 school going adolescents girls for education and career development.
Key Programs Under AWE
