Goldman Sachs to train 29 Indian women entrepreneurs

Vinay Umarji, Business Standard / Mumbai/ Ahmedabad May 05, 2009, 0:34
IST

As part of its focus on developing startups across the world, Goldman
Sachs is looking at training and development of around 29 select women
entrepreneurs in India. The effort is part of Goldman Sachs '10,000
Women' initiative, founded on the basis of a research conducted by the
World Bank, Goldman Sachs, and others, which found that educating
women is one of the most effective ways to increase economic growth
and improve living standards in developing economies.

According to Goldman Sachs, studies conclude that, on average, a one
percentage point increase in female education raises annual GDP growth
rates by 0.2 percentage point. Under the initiative, Goldman Sachs is
selecting specific women entrepreneurs around the world including
developing countries like India and Latin American countries.

"The public, private and non-profit sectors are convening around the
idea that opening economic opportunity to women has a tremendous
multiplier effect that leads to both social progress and economic
growth. We are seeing a growing global movement for women’s economic
empowerment. Armed with the research conducted by World Bank, the
United Nations and others, we designed 10,000 Women with two goals: to
provide business and management education to 10,000 Women and to
increase the capacity of business education around the world by
training faculty and creating 200 locally relevant case studies," said
Dina Habib Powell, managing director and global head - corporate
engagement at Goldman Sachs.

In India, Goldman Sachs has partnered with NEN, London Business School
(LBS) and Indian School of Business (ISB). Having completed a 150-hour
certificate program in entrepreneurship, including three weeks of
classroom instruction and nine weeks of mentoring and on-the-job
support, the select 29 women entrepreneurs have presented their
business plans developed as part of the coursework which the
organisation will help expand.

Powell added that in future, Goldman Sachs will be introducing a
measurement system that will measure changes in participants'
businesses such as revenue or employment numbers.