GAME, Facebook to help small biz in India

New Delhi: Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and Facebook on Tuesday said they have collaborated to help small entrepreneurs in India build their businesses using digital platforms to aggregate demand, market products and acquire customers.

The objective of this partnership is to ramp up job creation and to further empower entrepreneurs, in line with Facebook's commitment to train five million people with digital and entrepreneurial skills by 2021, a statement said.

"GAME and Facebook will kick-start their engagement with a project empowering local communities of rural entrepreneurs - using digital and physical modes, a landscape review and identification of solutions for women entrepreneurs and a grand prize challenge for innovative models that spur new business creation," it added.

Phase I will be rolled out this year covering 10 states including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra among others.

"Imagine the power of a platform that can bring together communities of artisan clusters, agri-entrepreneurs or homepreneurs in the thousands to learn, collaborate and succeed - the possibilities are boundless," GAME founder and former Chairman of Microsoft India, Ravi Venkatesan said.

GAME - a consortium of public and private organisations - was formed last year and aims to facilitate creation of 10 million new entrepreneurs and 50 million jobs by 2030, with a special focus on opportunities for women.

The statement pointed out that women currently comprise 23 per cent of internet users and six per cent of mass entrepreneurs in India.

The partnership aims to significantly improve women's participation in the workforce through entrepreneurship by increasing internet usage and leveraging its potential to connect and empower, it added.

"We believe that when you give women and youth the skills and technology to improve their lives, we can equip them to unlock economic and social value for themselves and their communities," Facebook India, South and Central Asia Public Policy Director Ankhi Das said.