Zone Startups to mentor more women

Zone Startups India (ZSI) recently launched its second edition of ‘empoWer’- a tech accelerator programme for women entrepreneurs.

The six-week accelerator programme was built based on a primary research conducted by Zone Startups India.

“Through our accelerator programme and various bootcamps, workshops and events, we noticed that the number of women-led or co-founded startups are significantly lesser than what could potential be. On conducting a study, we realised that the problems faced by a lot of women entrepreneurs are unique to them, and most of it is centered around the network aspect,” Ajay Ramasubramaniam, Director, Zone Startups India said.

“This is when we felt the need for building a dedicated accelerator programme for women entrepreneur, that comprises of mentoring, workshops, case studies, peer network and investor connect,” he added. The second edition of empoWer was launched last month in Mumbai, followed by Bengaluru, Gurugram, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

“We have received over 300 applications and we will be shortlisting top 15 women entrepreneurs. Over the past 15 months, empoWer has impacted 20 women entrepreneurs through dedicated accelerator and bootcamp programmes,” Ramasubramaniam said.In addition to the accelerator, it also enables access to funding.