WE Hub, Tide join hands to accelerate growth for Women-led SMEs
Telangana's state-led incubator, WE Hub, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tide, the UK’s most prominent SME-focused financial platform. This is in an effort to empower women-led small business owners in India. This partnership will last a year and help Tide's India Chapter, 'Women in Business', to grow and empower women entrepreneurs in India.
The Women in Business program aims to digitally transform businesses in Tier 2 or Tier 3 regions. This partnership will allow women entrepreneurs to have full access to Tide's financial advisory and financial administration services. It will facilitate their inclusion in formal economic activities.
According to the MSME ministry Annual Report 20,21, only 20% of Indian SMEs are managed by women. The credit gap for women MSMEs is $158 billion, with 90% relying on informal sources to finance. The low growth rate of women-led SMEs is due to a lack of formal credit and a high rejection rate from lending institutions. This makes it difficult for women-led businesses that finance themselves to become banks. It also creates uncertainty among financial institutions regarding the business model and return of loans.
Deepthi Ravula, CEO of WE Hub said that "Access to financing and especially working capital has always been an important challenge for many women-led start-ups & SME's." Numerous studies have shown that financial institutions are not confident in the growth prospects of women founders and start ups. Access to mentors is another common problem faced by women entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs need to have access to credit to be able to scale their ventures. This is why it is so important to provide assistance. We plan to address these issues and provide growth opportunities for women entrepreneurs through our partnership with Tide.
WE Hub is India's only state-led incubator. It has deep market penetration, and a solid body of work with women small business owners - an area that has been historically underserved. Tide and WE Hub aim to build an ecosystem that will allow women entrepreneurs to have more access to technical and business support as well as mentoring and greater opportunities for growth. Counselling and education of women entrepreneurs in small businesses will be the core areas. These include: Regulation and Compliance, Accounting and Finance Planning, Filing Tax Returns and Loan Application Support. Peer Training and Networking will also be provided. When starting out, women entrepreneurs can use a Tide co-working space.
Kumar Shekhar is VP – Member Operations, Tide India. She stated that India is experiencing an exponential growth in women-led SMEs, which are setting themselves on an entrepreneurial journey and contributing significantly towards the country's economy. Tide is proud to be a partner with WE Hub and we plan to collaborate to foster the growth of women-owned small businesses. Tide will provide a platform for women businesswomen to achieve their goals and give them the technical and financial knowledge they need.
Tide created an internal Women in Business Mentor Panel to help achieve this goal. It includes in-house experts in Leadership and Marketing, Capital Investment and Hiring, Payroll, Taxation and Legal. These experts provide one-on-1 advice and host masterclasses, webinars and AMA sessions for women entrepreneurs.
