Deadline: 15 February 2020
Indian Women Social Entrepreneurs Network (IWSEN) is an amazing opportunity to become part of a fully-funded program for women social entrepreneurs in India.
This Fully funded program seeks to provide an inaugural class of 40 women social entrepreneurs across India with the leadership and management skills that will result in scaling their businesses. It will also facilitate the creation of a formal network, currently called the Indian Women Social Entrepreneurs Network (IWSEN), of which the first class will be the founding members. The IWSEN will help members support each other and build a community of women social entrepreneurs across India.
Only 25 per cent of social enterprises in India are led by women. Women entrepreneurs are often subject to discrimination from their families, communities, and investors when compared to male peers. This issue is even more acute for women because social entrepreneurship can be stigmatized as being unprofitable.
As a result, women-led social enterprises in India could benefit from the establishment of a formalized, cohesive network that would provide access to information, capital, mentorship, and other opportunities that are currently lacking in both social and commercial enterprises.
Benefits
If applicants are selected into this program, applicants can look forward to the following:
- Skills
- Cutting-edge leadership development, training and mentorship from global experts in social enterprise and the future of work.
- Personal Support
- Support in navigating the difficult stage in between start-up and scale-up, where the focus is on building their own leadership capacity to manage a growing venture but which neither incubators nor accelerators typically focus on.
- Community
- A curated and safe space to invest in their own leadership development alongside peers
- Participation in a community of women social entrepreneurs that can support each other with networks, collaboration, business development, peer support, and more.
- Life-Long learning
- Discounts to continuous learning opportunities with Amani Institute
- Access to ANDE (Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs) capacity development and networking events.
- Connections
- Broader access to the ANDE and Amani Institute networks of changemakers and leading organizations in social entrepreneurship across India, and beyond.
Program Structure
- Once selected into the program, applicants can look forward to 8 days of training split across 2 workshops in 2020 along with online coaching support and check-ins on progress.
- The second workshop will coincide with the official launch of the Indian Women Social Entrepreneur Network. In addition, there will be a host of activities related to building a community of support and strengthening peer relationships between participants.
What applicants will learn:
- The program will consist of multiple touch-points, both online and offline, curated for the 40 women social entrepreneurs selected for this project.
- Broad themes include:
- Leadership Skills – Focus on leading self, leading others and leading a business (all with the lens of a woman social entrepreneur).
- Trends & Challenges in the emerging world of work and how to prepare for this.
- Sustaining an authentic and collaborative network of women leaders across India.
- The program approach focuses on knowledge, tools and frameworks that can be immediately and practically applied. Applicants will leave with the right combination of skills to thrive within the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Workshop Date
- Workshop 1 – Second half of May 2020
- Workshop 2 – Mid-November 2020
Eligibility Criteria
- Organizational Criteria
- Is your organization registered in India and/or targeting to have an impact in India? (Both for-profit and non-profit organizations are eligible to apply)
- Is your organization working to improve the lives of marginalized or vulnerable populations in India?
- Has your organization generated revenue of at least 15 Lakhs in either 2018 or 2019?
- Does your organization have a staff of at least 3 or more full-time members?
- Personal Criteria
- Are you comfortable speaking and learning in English?
- Are you working full-time in your organization?
- Are you willing to share knowledge and support to other members of the IWSEN to collectively grow the impact of women social entrepreneurs in India?
- Are you able to attend 2 training sessions of 4 days each between May and November 2020?
For more information, visit http://iwsen.mystrikingly.com/