Hyderabad: The Biggest ever Business Women Expo 2021 in India with a theme to help women entrepreneurs  ‘Bounce Back’ kicked off here in the city at Hitex at Madhapur. 

The 3-day expo is organized jointly by HITEX and COWE (Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs). It is organized in support and collaboration with the Government of Telangana, HYSEA, TiE, DICCI, Social Cause, Fifth Avenue and Future 

The exhibition featuring 150 women-owned or related businesses was inaugurated by Mr Kuna Shankar, Director of Hitex and Ms P. Soudhamini, National President of COWE.

Speaking on the occasion Mr Kuna Shankar said ‘women are the architect of our society’. One empowered woman can make a whole lot of difference to her family, society and country at large. Hitex is very happy to host this event which offers women entrepreneurs a plot form to showcase their products and bounce back post-COVID.

Soudhamini, COWE National President said financial freedom is the real freedom to women. If you want to empower women, create more opportunities for them to showcase their talent. 

Colleges must become job oriented institutions she said. Our focus area is Young COWE. We will expand its footprint in Telugu states she added.  

She told women gathering to take care of themselves own self, their health and well-being before they serve others. And she gave a clarion call to women to help fellow women. 

COWE recognized and felicitated two first time women entrepreneurs—Ms. Bishakha Mahanta from West Bengal and Ms. Mamta Tanwar from Madhya Pradesh. These two women rewrote history. They have got trained in stitching by  USHA Silai School and went online first time during the covid to beat the covid to market their products through COWE’s Virtual Mart.  They sold women clothes.  And they turned out to be the most successful in their efforts and standing as role models for others.

Usha Silai began its journey to empower rural women to become entrepreneurs and give sewing lessons in their respective communities. These two women successful women were identified by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI, an organization set up under an Act of Indian Parliament, acts as the Principal Financial Institution for Promotion, Financing and Development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector. Besides recognizing these two women, COWE also presented each of these two women entrepreneurs cash reward of Rs 10,000/- (ten thousand) for their success in Digital Marketing, for setting trend and living as an example for others.  

COWE presented the ‘COWE India Excellence’ awards. Those awardees include:

Rachna R Kalra from Delhi for her efforts in Environmental protection and restoring and rejuvenating water bodies across India. 

Madhavi Koppal of Roots Health Foundation from Andhra Pradesh has been working on screening and early detection of cancer. 

Saradavani from Sarada Nursery Gardens from Andhra Pradesh helps you adopt your tree. She has been a landscape consultant and owns the biggest nursery. 

Komal Jain of Sow Fresh India LLP, an Agripreneur from Delhi who has been promoting a concept called Farm to form the concept of growing organic produce and delivering it to doorsteps globally.

Dumma Annegowda of Sandeep Service Station for setting up a fuel station in a remote location and serving through it people in remote villages of Karnataka and providing convenience to lakhs of customers

Sankari from Tamil Nadu for manufacturing health care products. The chemical and plastic-free sanitary napkins she produces are recognized by the Khadi and Village Industries of India.  

Harpreet Ahluwalia of Earthy Creations from Uttar Pradesh for her venture for eco-friendly gifting and gardening products.  

Dr. Chutra a transformational coach from West Bengal and Farha of Pink Pagdi from Telangana for excellence in wedding planning. 

Jayashri Baheti from Telangana. She is an artist. Her paintings are based on life in rural India. 

Her work has been featured in the international arena such as United Colors of Benetton.                

Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy is expected to visit the Biggest ever Business Women Expo at Hitex on its second day tomorrow at 9 am.  

The Expo with the theme ‘Bounce Back’ is providing the largest platform for women entrepreneurs from SMEs, MSMEs and start-ups to showcase their products and services and also strive to guide and mentor women to take up entrepreneurship, informed Ms Soudhamini, National President of COWE.

 The expo is spread over 7000 sq meters, featuring 150 exhibitors. Most of the exhibitors are first time participants in any expo

Ms. Vandana Maheshwari, Vice President, COWE India and Neeraja Reddy, President of COWE Telangana Chapter informed that apart from the Expo, they are organizing knowledge sessions to equip the women with the right knowledge, skills and aptitude. A seminar on the Co-existence of both genders will also be organized. 

Smt Rashida Adenwala – Board MemberTiE & Lead – TiE Women Program said that the second edition of TiE Women Global Pitch Competition in partnership with BSE’s empoWer accelerator will be launched at the Business Women Expo. In this competition, Women entrepreneurs will be allowed to pitch their business ideas and the selected ones will receive training, mentoring, and access to funding to develop their entrepreneurial initiatives. 

 A panel discussion will also be held with the winners of the first round of TiE Women Global Pitch Competition, she added. The winners of the first round of the Pitch competition were announced in January 2021 and awarded a total of US$ 135,000 prize. An Investor Lounge will also be set up at the Expo, she said.

5th Avenue Lifestyle and Bridal Fashion Show will be held as part of this wherein fashion and jewellery designers will showcase their latest collections.

 Social Cause, a think tank NGO is organizing a seminar on 8th March, titled Women Entrepreneurs—Experiences, Challenges and Opportunities During Covid-19 and Beyond.