Sundar Pichai Pledges to Support 1 Million Women Entrepreneurs in Rural India.
The Alphabet CEO stated that empowering women entrepreneurs could result in the creation of hundreds of millions of jobs, but deep disparities exist for women when it comes to accessing opportunities.
By – Verbena Sharma
Google is unveiling the Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls all over the world. It will provide $25 million in total funding to nonprofits and social organizations working to advance women and girls’ economic empowerment and build paths to wealth in India and around the world as part of this initiative.
“The success of the Internet Saathi programme has shown how digital literacy and access can help women to reach their full potential and improve their livelihoods,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google and Alphabet at the virtual edition of Google for India event called Women Will. “Based on this success, we are announcing to help 1 million women in rural villages become entrepreneurs through business tutorials, tools and mentorship.”
Google announced that it will fund 1 million women entrepreneurs in rural India. Google is launching a new Women Will web platform based on lessons learned from the Internet Saathi program. The aim behind this is to support rural Indian women in following their dreams and improving their livelihoods through entrepreneurship.
“We always believe the best ways to expand opportunity for everyone is to get technology into the hands of women,” said Pichai. “Not only will they use it to make their lives better but (also) for their families and their communities.”
The Women Will platform, which is available in both English and Hindi, is designed specifically for women who want to try their hand at entrepreneurship. The platform will provide guidance and encouragement to women who want to transform an existing hobby or talent into some income, such as tailoring, beauty services, home tuition, and food processing. To begin, the platform will work with 2,000 Internet Saathis to help other women take advantage of this opportunity and begin their own business.
“We always believe the best ways to expand opportunity for everyone is to get technology into the hands of women,” said Pichai. “Not only will they use it to make their lives better but (also) for their families and their communities.”
“Sometimes it felt like the whole neighborhood was in our living room, swapping stories and connecting with the loved ones, who lived far away,” said Pichai.
Many years later, in 2017, he met other women in a small rural village outside of Kharagpur, and they made an impression on him. This time, it’s all about cell phones. He was visiting as part of the Internet Saathi programme, which taught women in rural Indian villages how to use the Internet.
These women then went on to teach other women in other villages. When he asked them to name one thing that would make the biggest difference in their village, they said Wi-Fi. They showed him various phone searches they were doing, ranging from discovering YouTube videos on sewing to using pesticide to increase crop yields.
“These stories were powerful reminders about how technology can help transform lives for the better. And in turn, these women helped to make our products better,” said Pichai. “For example, they showed how the voice search confused Puri, the food with a place, which inspired us to make improvements.”
Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, expressed his delight at the success of the joint effort between Google and Tata Trusts in providing education and livelihood to rural women in India. “I appreciate Mr Pichai for acknowledging what we have achieved. I wish to thank him for recognising the tremendous outreach and faith that Google has displayed in this initiative with Tata Trusts.”
or talent into some income, such as tailoring, beauty services, home tuition, and food processing. To begin, the platform will work with 2,000 Internet Saathis to help other women take advantage of this opportunity and begin their own business.
“We always believe the best ways to expand opportunity for everyone is to get technology into the hands of women,” said Pichai. “Not only will they use it to make their lives better but (also) for their families and their communities.”
“Sometimes it felt like the whole neighborhood was in our living room, swapping stories and connecting with the loved ones, who lived far away,” said Pichai.
Many years later, in 2017, he met other women in a small rural village outside of Kharagpur, and they made an impression on him. This time, it’s all about cell phones. He was visiting as part of the Internet Saathi programme, which taught women in rural Indian villages how to use the Internet.
These women then went on to teach other women in other villages. When he asked them to name one thing that would make the biggest difference in their village, they said Wi-Fi. They showed him various phone searches they were doing, ranging from discovering YouTube videos on sewing to using pesticide to increase crop yields.
“These stories were powerful reminders about how technology can help transform lives for the better. And in turn, these women helped to make our products better,” said Pichai. “For example, they showed how the voice search confused Puri, the food with a place, which inspired us to make improvements.”
Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, expressed his delight at the success of the joint effort between Google and Tata Trusts in providing education and livelihood to rural women in India. “I appreciate Mr Pichai for acknowledging what we have achieved. I wish to thank him for recognising the tremendous outreach and faith that Google has displayed in this initiative with Tata Trusts.”
In India, Internet Saathi is assisting in the reduction of the digital gender gap. Over the course of its six-year journey, this collaborative effort with Tata Trusts has benefited over 30 million women in rural India and helped to close the digital gender gap in India. To make this possible, Google said it took the courage and tireless efforts of over 80,000 women trainers known as Internet Saathis. The aim of the programme was to provide digital literacy training to women in 300,000 villages across India.
Pichai said empowering woman entrepreneurs could create hundreds of millions of jobs and help more people benefit from India’s growing digital economy. Because when women have equal access to opportunity, everyone benefits from their perspectives, creativity and expertise. “This is true all over the world. Yet, when it comes to accessing opportunity, deep inequalities persist,” said Pichai.
Post-Covid-19, a future of all-round prosperity is anchored in the guarantee of gender equity, and this requires concerted but bold efforts. The $25 million Google.org Global Impact Challenge for Women & Girls, would support such efforts. Google said it is very conscious that the disruption of 2020 has widened the gender equity gap globally.