{Women Entrepreneurship Program Launch: #Kamaalkedus} eSamudaay Invites 1000+ Tier 2-3 City Women to Independently Run Local E-Marketplaces

In a bid to digitize small towns of India and strengthen women entrepreneurship in the country, eSamudaay, which claims to be the world’s first Local Commerce  (LCommerce) platform, has launched ‘Kamaal ke Dus (10)’ – a unique women entrepreneurship program enabling dynamic and aspiring young women to set up and run independent ecommerce marketplaces in the small towns of India.

Kamaal Ke Dus will be a series of cohorts, each made up of 10 women leaders aspiring to become ecommerce entrepreneurs. The first cohort will be launched on March 8, 2021. The applicants will go through a selection process and 10 winners will be selected from among the aspiring entrepreneurs who apply for the project.

They will be offered four months of incubation, business mentorship, credit facilities, and free access to software worth INR 1 lakh to set-up horizontal ecommerce marketplaces in their hometowns. Through this initiative, eSamudaay aims to create a network of over 1,000 women LCommerce entrepreneurs across India as part of its ambitious digital democracy plans.

Increasing the participation of women in the formal economy has the potential of adding US$ 1 trillion to GDP and eSamudaay wishes to play our part in making that happen

Announcing the program, Anup Pai, Founder and CEO, eSamudaay said in a statement, “Having been raised by a tenacious mother, I am keenly aware of the dormant economic and social change power that exists in our country. I truly believe women are the fulcrum of activities in any community, so it was natural for us to come up with an initiative that would digitally empower them to lead other women in their community to become resilient and indispensable.”

“As society transitions out of male dominance, the participation of woman entrepreneurs in LCommerce will be a strategic advantage for eSamudaay. Increasing the participation of women in the formal economy has the potential of adding US$ 1 trillion to GDP and eSamudaay wishes to play our part in making that happen,” he added.

Fully Women Owned LCommerce Platforms

LCommerce is ecommerce optimized for a town and operated by an autonomous local company using the SaaS tools provided on eSamudaay.com. They are essentially interconnected Open Commerce Marketplaces that are locally run for the benefit of local communities. An online presence for sellers and producers of all kinds are optimized for logistics in the local area.

The women entrepreneurs with eSamudaay’s digital tools will be able to fully own the LCommerce platform in their communities. They will take charge of on-boarding sellers, offer product and service cataloguing assistance, marketing, order management, logistics and marketplace management services to other small producers and sellers.

Each LCommerce entity will be operating a Super App that will bring together local producers and sellers of all categories and promote eCommerce within the community. The Local super app will offer all products and services that are both available and needed in the community, ranging from groceries, kitchen supplies, apparels, services like food, health and wellness, mobility services, home-services etc.

For Empowerment and Self Reliance

This initiative will not only create more employment opportunities for women in smaller towns but also help in building self-reliant communities, empowering other women sellers and buyers including home chefs, small producers, women artisans, and other businesswomen in those regions.

eSamudaay is world’s first attempt at a decentralized network of autonomous organizations creating digital marketplaces aligned closely with existing physical marketplaces. The firm is on a mission to make local economies digital and self-reliant, and women will play a central role in this mission.

This January, the firm launched its digitization drive in Chamarajanar, Karnataka, aimed at incubating and digitally empowering aspiring rural youth and women entrepreneurs in the district. The latest pan-India women entrepreneurship initiative will further bolster its digitisation efforts across hinterlands of India.