First Women’s Park for entrepreneurs in north Karnataka
Bengluru, Nov 15 (IANS) The Karnataka government on Tuesday announced setting up the first Women’s Park at Kalaburgi in the state’s north to facilitate women entrepreneurs open their manufacturing and processing units.
“The first Karnataka Ladies Association and Manufacturers Park (K-LAMP) in the Kesaratagi industrial area of Kalaburgi will have facilities to incubate, train, develop and test diverse products for mass production,” said Additional Chief Secretary K. Ratna Prabha at a conclave here.
Kalaburgi is about 640 km from Bengaluru.
The state government also launched a website (www.klampk.com) dedicated to women entrepreneurs on the valedictory day of the ‘ThinkBig 2016’, a global summit of women entrepreneurs in partnership with the US-based WEConnect International global network.
“Special incentives have been provided in the state’s new industrial policy for the Hyderabad-Karnataka region comprising the six backward districts of Bidar, Bellari, Kalaburgi, Koppal, Raichur and Yadgir to encourage women entrepreneurs set up their units in various sectors,” said Prabha.
Admitting that many women had to be groomed for promoting enterprising ventures across the state, she said the Industry Department would conduct seminars, worships and product-oriented programmes for budding women entrepreneurs in different sectors.
“Going forward, the KIADB (Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board) will develop an exclusive Women’s Park on a 50-acre land near Bengaluru, with plots of 5,000 square feet each for micro and small-scale units,” she added.
Addressing about 2,000 women delegates from 19 states across the country and dozen countries from the world over, Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mazmudar Shaw urged the women entrepreneurs to think big and build scale.
“Don’t be contended with opening a boutique or a small-scale unit but realise your full potential and break the mindset,” she said.
As about 90 per cent of women rely on self-financing, Shaw said banks and venture capitalists should realise that women were worth investing in and advised them to change their mindset.
Announcing a ‘Women Start-up’ programme at the IIM-B school, Goldman Sachs India Chairman Sonjoy Chatterjee said the course would help women think of and initiate new ventures of their own.
“The free-of-cost year-long programme will train, mentor, incubate and support women to select projects in partnership with a Wall Street financial services firm,” said Chatterjee.
