The Atal Incubation Centre of India’s premier B-school, Goa Institute of Management (AIC-GIM) has introduced its first batch of the WE-nurture programme. The aim of this programme is to nurture and support women micro-entrepreneurs to scale up their ventures.

WE-nurture is a quarterly program for women micro-entrepreneurs aimed at strengthening them with the help of corporate partners.

AIC-GIM will have a start cohort of ten women who will receive the pre-incubation services and support. AIC-GIM hopes to nurture close to forty women entrepreneur ventures through this programme.

During the pandemic, many women became entrepreneurs for the first time. Most of these women led businesses that were small and informal in nature. The WE - nurture program of AIC-GIM intends on providing assistance and support during these times, to build resilience and give the women, up-skilling resources to scale up.

Ajit Parulekar, Director of Goa Institute of Management tweeted, “We salute and celebrate women power through this initiative of WE-nurture by AIC-GIM.”

The WE -nurture program began with ten women who not only sustained their business, but also provided livelihood to rural women and farmers in a lot of ways. These women entrepreneurs were provided support in the form of access to investor networks, market support, knowledge and monitoring support, access to technical support, legal compliance support and much more.

They are:

• Sucheta Bhandare from “Earthpoorna” --working for sustainable development of women farmers and providing wholesome, healthy food for the people.

• Vaishali Chauhan’s “Dhairyansh Green”, a wasteless store promotes and supports local, natural, seasonal, fresh and chemical free produce which is locally sourced from communities.

• Tanuja Divker, through her brand “Medini” aims to develop a platform for rural women to showcase their products. She also plans to host sessions for the holistic wellness of women.

• Ria Patil Chandray, developer of ‘Josa Hygienic’, solves the problem regarding disposal of used sanitary napkins. Her company manufactures 100 percent biodegradable sanitary napkins that are priced equal to those of ordinary sanitary pads. She also takes on board partners who will sell her products and in turn create livelihood for themselves.

• Mayuri Bhate’s “Ecotopia” contributes to a greener environment by manufacturing charcoal from coconut shells, which is abundantly available in Goa instead of using wood.

• Goenkart founded by Siya Shaikh & Dr. Sneha Bhagwat is a multi-product, multi-brand e-commerce site which promotes products made by women entrepreneurs.

• Anupama Galhout, creator of ‘Soaps and Blend’ , creates organic and chemical free body care products.

• Elsa Lumia Da Costa is the mastermind behind “Neuro Space” that provides education and practical resources to all those with stress related health issues.

• Priya Patil, founder of “Feroall” sells a range of long-lasting cast iron cookware that is pre seasoned with natural edible oils. These are naturally nonstick with no toxic layers and come in recyclable packaging.

• Shaneta Mendes has launched her own brand called “Easy Curry” that provides customers with homemade, ready-to-cook curry pastes in eleven different authentic Goan curry flavours without any added preservatives.