Women Entrepreneurship Platform and TransUnion CIBIL Partner to Launch SEHER Program to Empower Women Entrepreneurs
SEHER, a credit education program launched today by the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) and TransUnion CIBIL, will empower women entrepreneurs in India with financial literacy content and business skills, helping them to access the financial tools they need to drive further growth and create employment in the country’s economy.
The Women Entrepreneurship Program (WEP) is a public-private partnership platform incubated at Niti Aayog and aims to create an enabling ecosystem for women entrepreneurs in India. The program is part of WEP’s Financing Women Collaborative (FWC), a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at accelerating access to finance for women entrepreneurs. The SEHER program was launched by Ms. Anna Roy, Mission Director, Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) and Principal Economic Adviser, NITI Aayog in the presence of Mr. Jitendra Asati, Director (Financial Inclusion), Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance; Mr. Sunil Mehta, Chief Executive, Indian Banks’ Association (IBA); Mr. Neeraj Nigam, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India (RBI); Ms. Mercy Epao, Joint Secretary, Ministry of MSME; and Mr. Rajesh Kumar, MD and CEO at TransUnion CIBIL.
Ms. Anna Roy, Mission Director, WEP, and Principal Economic Adviser, NITI Aayog, explained, “A lack of financial awareness is often cited as one of the key roadblocks for MSME development, which is a high priority segment for our country’s economic growth. To get timely and better access to finance for business growth, entrepreneurs must gain knowledge on all aspects of finance, including their CIBIL Rank and commercial credit report. WEP aims to empower women entrepreneurs by overcoming information asymmetry and providing support across different pillars such as entrepreneurship promotion, access to finance, market linkages, training and skills development, mentoring and networking, and access to business development services.”
Mr. Rajesh Kumar, MD and CEO, TransUnion CIBIL added: “TransUnion CIBIL is proud to partner with the Women Entrepreneurship Platform on this unique initiative aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs across socio-economic categories, age-groups and geographic locations. Business growth is directly dependent on credit access, credit awareness and financial literacy. We aim to propagate financial knowledge and improve the skills of women entrepreneurs so that they can manage their businesses successfully to achieve sustained growth. This program will also help support India’s USD 5 trillion economy goal as more and more women are empowered to start and grow their businesses profitably.”