Bhubaneswar: At a time when start-up revolution is changing entrepreneurship like never before, Odisha government has found a unique idea to empower women by enabling them do business through Facebook.
The decision to train women to do business by using social media comes as a major step by the state government to bolster its business ecosystem and aid women empowerment.
From ‘Badi’ made in Keonjhar and Ganjam to beautifully crafted ‘Chandua’ of Pipili, women self help groups will now be able to sell their handmade products through Facebook- #SheMeansBusiness, an e-business platform set up by a joint initiative of Facebook, MSME department of Odisha and Mission Shakti. It would help women showcase their products throughout the country and worldwide and will also strengthen their socio-economic status.
To provide the necessary marketing and entrepreneurial skills to women, a workshop is being organised in the capital city. In first phase over the next one year the government aims to train and around 25,000 women with necessary skills and awareness on technology, teamwork, transparency that will help them to do business.
On the other hand women groups are very optimistic about the new way of doing business. “Once we open accounts in Facebook we will be trained to sell our products online and hope to do more business through it,” a SGH member said.
Speaking at the inaugural programme of workshop, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “This joint initiative by the government and Facebook is an innovative programme to impart digital marketing skills to our women entrepreneurs particularly the SHGs. This can further strengthen the progress of our women and take their empowerment to a whole new level.”