Jaipur : The second day of the 10th edition of the TiE Global Summit 2026 opened with a strong focus on women entrepreneurs and large-scale job creation, as TiE launched its ambitious “1-10-100 and 100 Million” campaign, aimed at strengthening MSMEs as engines of economic growth and employment. The milestone initiative seeks to catalyse large-scale job creation by mobilising governments, industry bodies, capital providers, and TiE chapters globally. Over the next five years, the mission aims to generate ten million jobs and over $100 billion in economic value, with a focus on simplified regulations, access to capital, skills development, technology adoption, data-driven planning, and cluster-led regional growth placing entrepreneurship at the centre of India’s future of work.
Setting the tone for the day, the opening fireside chat, “Leadership Beyond Labels: Women, Power & Public Service,” featured Smt. Smriti Z. Irani, Former Cabinet Minister, Government of India, in conversation with Mr. Mahavir Pratap Sharma, Convener, TiE Global Summit. Drawing from her journey across media, politics, governance, and social impact, Smt. Smriti Irani spoke about the importance of continuously challenging one’s own boundaries and embracing risk, even at the peak of success. Highlighting the need to strengthen women’s participation in entrepreneurship, she spoke about her initiative SPARK, which aims to support one lakh women entrepreneurs across 300 cities through access to credit, formalisation, and institutional support, underscoring that empowering women-led microenterprises is both a social and economic imperative.
The dialogue on economic growth continued with the session “MSMEs as Growth Engines: The State’s Role,” which brought together Dr. P. Anbalagan, IAS, Hon’ble Principal Secretary, Industries Department, Government of Maharashtra, and Shri T. Sivasankara Rao, Chairman, AP MSME Development Corporation, moderated by Mr. Murali Bukkapatnam, Chairman, Global Board of Trustees, TiE. The discussion highlighted MSMEs as high-employment, high-multiplier sectors, particularly in manufacturing clusters such as apparel, footwear, and allied industries. Speakers emphasised simplified and stable regulations, easier GST compliance, improved access to credit, and technology-led, cluster-based development. Following the session, MoUs were exchanged between the Andhra Pradesh Government, TiE Hyderabad, and TiE Visakhapatnam.
Earlier in the day, the fireside chat “Building Cities of the Future: Innovation, Investment & Global Hubs” featured Mr. Ammar Al Malik, Executive Vice President, Commercial at TECOM Group and Managing Director of Dubai Internet City, hosted by Mr. Prashant K. Gulati, Chairman Emeritus, TiE Dubai. The discussion highlighted Dubai Internet City’s evolution into the region’s largest technology ecosystem and its growing role as a gateway for Indian startups and scale-ups, driven by digital infrastructure, enabling policies, AI-led innovation, talent attraction, and cross-border collaboration.
Collectively, the sessions reinforced TiE’s continued focus on entrepreneurship, governance, women’s leadership, MSME-led job creation, and future-ready ecosystems, positioning the Summit as a platform for meaningful dialogue and long-term collaboration.
