Recognising that women‘s enterprises are still small and need to equip themselves to scale up and reach new market opportunities, WEConnect International is organising its third “Think Big 2014” Women in Business Forum on 09 October 2015, in Delhi, India.
WEConnect International is a corporate-led non-profit that empowers women business owners to succeed in global markets. WeConnect International India was established to support this untapped source of innovation, enable job creation and drive economic growth of women entrepreneurs.
Testimonials from 2014 participants say it all: “This was the first forum I attend, both as a participant and as a WeConnect certified business. The richness of the discussions at Think Big quite blew me away.”
This year WeConnect is aiming to host Think Big 2015 in India’s capital and is expecting over 500 delegates representing a wide range of business owners and corporates.
Over the last two years WeConnect in India has established its presence by growing its network and enhancing awareness and visibility for promoting women businesses with corporates through its landmark and unique annual event ‘Think Big’.
A few noteworthy outcomes of the conference last year included women businesses conducting meetings with retail giants such as Walmart. Other organisations including Accenture, Intel, Marriott and Walmart committed to buying more from women vendors. IBM announced their goal to procure $35 – $60 million from women business owners in India.
Supporting The Growing Population of Female Entrepreneurs in India
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor as quoted by The Economist, there are 126 million women operating new businesses and another 98 million at the helm of established ones.
For any woman in business, two things are of undeniable importance – a good idea and monetary resources. The requirement of a consumption-driven economy such as India ensures a wide girth for women entrepreneurs to start their own businesses, thriving solely on innovation and new ideas. Women entrepreneurs see the world through a different lens and, in turn, do things differently.
A first of its kind study, ‘Accelerating Women’s Entrepreneurship: Roadmap to 2020’, currently being carried out in India, throws up some interesting facts and opportunities for strategic action. Women entrepreneurs interviewed across the country mentioned access to funds, access to markets and climate for action as some key concerns for growth and scale.
For female-led businesses to thrive, we need to create an ecosystem that enables the full potential of women as business entrepreneurs. When it comes to finance, women face particular hurdles – from a lack of collateral to discriminatory regulations and ingrained gender bias. Hence, economic, infrastructural and socio cultural factors still hinder women from becoming entrepreneurs.
Government policymakers, corporate planners and buyers, investors and financial institutions, business associations and entrepreneurs themselves need to take focused action to address the challenges that form part of the business environment for entrepreneurs.
WEConnect International’s vision is a world in which women have the same opportunity as their male counterparts to design and implement business solutions that create wealth and sustain the prosperity of their communities. The organisation. identifies, trains and certifies business enterprises that are at least 51% owned, managed, and controlled by one or more women, and then connects them with multinational corporate buyers and other market opportunities within the country and globally.
Special Features of WEConnect Think Big 2015
- A unique platform that addresses the need for entrepreneurial businesses at different stages of evolution – startup, mid and large, including insights for those that are seeking to understand what is takes to be an entrepreneur and make an impact. We do not believe one size fits all
- Opportunity to leverage business networking and peer learning platforms for women business owners and corporate procurement teams. An opportunity that has been actively leveraged after its introduction at Think Big 2013 and scaled to greater heights at Think Big 2014
- Think Big has been acknowledged as a forum for its power of enabling connections at multiple levels to ensure businesses gain from each other
- Connecting point for women entrepreneurs to other entrepreneurs to create B2B business opportunities.
- Connecting women business owners to corporations for exploring business opportunities.
- A first of its kind opportunity for women suppliers to connect and explore working with larger vendors to collaborate, scale and grow.
- Learning, skill-building and mentoring workshops for entrepreneurs, with a special focus on “Thinking Big”, led by industry leaders.
- Keynote speakers and role model women entrepreneurs and celebrities providing thought leadership to the entrepreneur community.
- Sharing of information about WEConnect International’s services in global certification and professional development for women-owned businesses; opportunity to sign up for WEConnect’s services.
- Forum for best practices sharing on Supplier Diversity by corporations; understanding of the business case by corporations for bringing in women vendors and suppliers into their supply chain.
- Recognition of Successful Women Business Owners and Corporations implementing Supplier Diversity.
Participants
- Women business owners and leaders
- Indian and MNC corporations
- Senior government representatives
- Investors and financial institutions
- Business Associations
- Prominent speakers and role models from different fields
- Media
For further information please email
This article was provided by WeAreTheCity Bangalore Committee Lead, and Co Chair of WeConnect Think Big Committee 2015, Puja Kohli.
