Airtel Payments Bank, Frontier Markets and the Mastercard Centre for Inclusive Growth have announced the launch of She Leads Bharat:Udyam, an initiative to elevate 100,000 Indian women-owned small businesses with resources, tools and opportunities to grow and diversify their incomes.
In the first phase, this initiative will enable 100,000 women-owned small businesses in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh to learn and earn via Frontier Markets’ proprietary, flexible Meri-Saheli platform. 10,000 of these business owners will be further enabled to grow their business by becoming Airtel Payments Bank Business Correspondents (BCs) and unlock additional revenue streams.
The partners envision She Leads Bharat:Udyam helping to expand access to financial services, delivering a new blueprint for serving rural markets and extending women-owned small businesses with support tailored to their needs.
In partnership with Airtel Payments Bank, Frontier Markets will onboard eligible women-owned small businesses as business correspondents and leverage its Meri-Saheli network and platform to increase product and brand awareness and generate leads to maximize their earning opportunities.
In addition, these businesses will get access to a suite of tools, resources, and market services available in the Meri-Saheli ecosystem, offering them ways to learn how to run a successful business and earn more revenue.
She Leads Bharat:Udyam will be funded by the Mastercard Impact Fund, and Mastercard will bring the catalytic capital and global expertise of its Centre for Inclusive Growth to unlock tools, resources, and networks for the women-owned small businesses.
Airtel Payments Bank offers a diverse range of banking solutions through a network of 500,000 banking points spread across the country and its digital platforms. Social enterprise Frontier Markets (FM) is India’s premier rural assisted social commerce platform. The Mastercard Centre for Inclusive Growth advances equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world. She Leads Bharat:Udyam is powered by Mastercard Strive India, which aims to enable 500,000 small businesses to succeed in the digital economy by 2025.
