Goldman Sachs to train 29 Indian women entrepreneurs

As part of its focus on developing startups across the world, Goldman Sachs is looking at training and development of around 29 select women entrepreneurs in India. 

The effort is part of Goldman Sachs '10,000 Women' initiative, founded on the basis of a research conducted by the World Bank, Goldman Sachs, and others, which found that educating women is one of the most effective ways to increase economic growth and improve living standards in developing economies.

According to Goldman Sachs, studies conclude that, on average, a one percentage point increase in female education raises annual GDP growth rates by 0.2 percentage point. 

Under the initiative, Goldman Sachs is selecting specific women entrepreneurs around the world including developing countries like India and Latin American countries.

"The public, private and non-profit sectors are convening around the idea that opening economic opportunity to women has a tremendous multiplier effect that leads to both social progress and economic growth.  We are seeing a growing global movement for women's economic empowerment. 

Armed with the research conducted by World Bank, the United Nations and others, we designed 10,000 Women with two goals: to provide business and management education to 10,000 Women and to increase the capacity of business education around the world by training faculty and creating 200 locally relevant case studies," said Dina Habib Powell, managing director and global head - corporate engagement at Goldman Sachs.

In India, Goldman Sachs has partnered with NEN, London Business School (LBS) and Indian School of Business (ISB). 

Having completed a 150-hour certificate program in entrepreneurship, including three weeks of classroom instruction and nine weeks of mentoring and on-the-job support, the select 29 women entrepreneurs have presented their business plans developed as part of the coursework which the organisation will help expand.

Powell added that in future, Goldman Sachs will be introducing a measurement system that will measure changes in participants' businesses such as revenue or employment numbers.