Encouraging small businesses by women to grow is the key aim of Global Links India Alumni Connect
Kolkata/IBNS: Global Links India Alumni Connect recently organised their capstone ceremony at the American Center in Kolkata, which revealed how a select group of students and women entrepreneurs got together to scale up their small businesses.
The Global Links program is a public private partnership founded in 2011 between the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, Rollins College, and Tupperware Brands.
It is a cross-cultural exchange program designed to expand women's entrepreneurship in developing countries through "train-the-trainer" model administered by Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College.
In the last two cycles, the program sponsored two female scholars in Kolkata and developed a pool of fifty students and fifty women entrepreneurs.
In the first year, scholars Dr Sharmistha Banerjee and Dr Rumpa Chakraborty studied entrepreneurship in Rollins College, then they mentored their students locally in India, equipped them and paired them to coach micro businesses of women entrepreneurs in Kolkata.
The top ten students in both the groups bagged the opportunity to visit Rollins College for a two week externship training.
American Center Director Monica Shie delivered the welcome address while Dr Sharmistha Banerjee announced the opening of an exhibition where a range of eco-friendly products, such as jute bags, handmade jewellery, textiles, handicraft etc. were displayed.
Said Monica Shie, ”When women-run businesses succeed, we all benefit. The Global Links model matching business students with working entrepreneurs has proven effective in growing small business here in West Bengal. The Global Links India Alumni Connect program will continue to support that network."
She also talked about women empowerment and how the Global Links has been working over the years.
Dr. Mary Conway from Rollins College Florida highlighted the purpose of the “Alumni Connect Program” and how it has built the network of women entrepreneurs and students as a team, which serve as a further resource.
She explained this initial network is expected to continue the journey of building confidence and business acumen of the women in the region.
Dr. Banerjee spoke about Global Link Alumni Connect 2019 Program tenets, including challenges and accomplishments.
A group of students, including Aman Khan, Alishah Shafi, Roshni Roi, Bernand Gomes, Mita Das, Priya Purohit, gave presentations about their work with women entrepreneurs.
Rollins College announced their scholarships for the best student participant of Global Links India Alumni Connect program, which were bagged by Aman Khan and Priya Purohit.
(Reporting by Sufiyan Ahsan)
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