Minister Veena to open KSUM’s Women Startup Summit on Friday
Kochi / September 27, 2023
Kochi, Sept 27: Minister for Health and Woman & Child Development Smt Veena George will inaugurate the fifth edition of Women Startup Summit (WSS 5.0) here this Friday, setting the tone for a line-up of lectures, panel discussions and workshops aimed at enabling female entrepreneurs to network, learn and grow for a stronger career.
Senior bureaucrats Dr Rathan U. Kelkar (Secretary, Department of IT & Electronics) and Dr K. Vasuki (Labour Commissioner) will also address the inaugural session of the day-long event being organised by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) at at Kalamassery, 20 km north of the city. Consulate General of Finland Erik Gustav Christopher too will speak, besides KSUM Chief Executive Officer Anoop Ambika and Manager Sumi P.
To be held in four venues in the KSUM premises of Integrated Startup Complex, the mainstay of the September 29 event will be held at the Main Stage, while there will also be Parallel Session and a Founders Meet, besides ‘She Loves Tech’, which is global platform seeking to close a funding gap for women entrepreneurs by building an ecosystem for technology, entrepreneurship and opportunities-fostering innovation.
WSS 5.0 will have a Startup expo and three Experience Centres at the venue. The expo, with 38 stalls, will showcase startups, projects by students, innovators, government officials and research institutes. They will cover a range of sectors. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, which is under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, will carry out a drive, guiding aspiring entrepreneurs on the process to start a company, besides on ways to earn the KSUM’s recognition. There will also be a Startup360, giving tips on how to register as a company and protect business ideas.
The summit had a series of pre-event activities from early August, which ended this week.
At the main venue (Theatre, Digital Hub), the inaugural ceremony will feature a keynote address by FirstPost & Network 18 Managing Edior Palki Sharma Upadhyay. This will be followed by a panel discussion on ‘Fostering Innovation and Diversity: Women Shaping the Future of Impact and Sustainability’. The panelists will be Gramalaya Microfin Foundation CEO Dr. Geetha Jeganathan, Sahodari Foundation founder Kalki Subramaniam and Infinte Cercle Co-Founder Divya Shetty, with Sustera foundation and Bhava India Co-founder Deepa Ananthapadmanabhan as the moderator.
Subsequently, Zafin Senior VP & Managing Director (India) Suja Chandy will deliver a leadership talk on ‘Global Impact: Women Driving Tech Innovation Across Borders’. This will be followed by a Fireside Chat on ‘Building Strong Network: Insights from Women Leaders in Media’ with TV journalist Mridu Bhandari and RedFM Director-COO Nisha Narayanan as the speakers and Channeliam.com founder-CEO Nisha Krishnan as the moderator.
A knowledge session on ‘Empowering Women Entrepreneurs: Government Organizations, Schemes, and Support Initiatives’ by KSUM Manager Surya Thankam S. will wind up the forenoon proceedings.
The post-lunch session will be a Fireside Chat on ‘Women in the Future of Work: Adapting to Changing Workforce Dynamics’ by Talent Boost India Head Gitta Perez and WICCI's India-EU Business Council President Ada Dyndo, wth TiE Kerala Women Chairperson Nisha Jose as the moderator. This will be followed by a panel discussion on ‘The Future of Investing in Women-Led Startups’ with Ventana Ventures Founding General Partner Shylaja Rao, AWE Funds Portfolio Partner Divya Sampath and GSF Accelerator Founder CEO Rajesh Sawhney as speakers and Suyati Technologies Executive Director Revathi Krishna as the moderator.
A subsequent panel discussion on ‘Crafting Together: Journey of Couplepreneurs - From Concept to Commerce’ will have Jismi Jobin and Jobin Jose of ,Jobin & Jismi IT Services LLP, and Lakshmi Das and Vaisakh T.R. of Prophaze speaking, with FemiSafe Co-founder Noureen Aysha as the moderator.
The valedictory function will be addressed by Kozhikode District Development Commissioner Madhavikutty M.S. besides Stories Social Founder Sangeetha Janachandran, ahead of the announcement of the winner and the honouring function.
‘She Loves Tech India’ at Digital Hub will start in the forenoon with the opening remarks of Leanne Robers, Co-founder of the world’s largest accelerator platform for women and technology. Speaking subsequently will be the jury members Nithish Kumar (Speciale Invest), Shylaja Rao (Ventana Ventures) and Paul Ravindanath G (Google Accelerator), with Ananya R (She Loves Tech) as the moderator.
The parallel session, on KSUM’s mentorship programme M.I.N.D (Mentor Inspired Networking on Demand), will be led by Vinitha Joseph (Blue Purple Consulting Kochi), Dr Archana Pillai (NSRCEL-IIM Bangalore), Bhawna B. (We Founder Circle & EvolveX), Dr Mohan Noone (MCare Apps), Rahmathulla T.M. (Mykare), Avantika Sahay (Ex T-Hub), Dr Mamtha George (Malabar Medical College Hospital), Bindu Sankarapillai (2nd Innings).
A subsequent workshop on ‘Innovation & Design Thinking by ICT Academy’ will be addressed by Manoj A.S., who heads the institution’s Planning, Competency Development & Innovations. After lunch, there will be a workshop on FOSS technologies and a master-class for IEDC women faculties by Dr Balachandran A. of VIT Vellore. There will also be workshops on VEGA Processors (by CDAC), Blockchain (Franklin John) and Cosmic Creations: AI-Powered Robots. Further, there will be master-classes on ‘Impact Leadership’ (Anju Bisht), Mastering D2C Strategies for SMEs (Rahul Mamman) and Exploring Intellectual Property Rights (Elizabeth Puthran), ahead of a workshop on ‘Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality’.
The Founders Meet will be addressed by KSUM CEO Anoop Ambika, Curate Health Co-founder Vandana Jayakumar, Women’s Motorcycle Club (India) Founder Niveditha Jessica, We Founder Circle & Evolve X Co-founder Bhawna B. and Her Money Talks Founder CEO Nisary Mahesh.
KSUM is the state government’s nodal agency established in 2006 for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state.
