Women’s World Banking (WWB), in partnership with PSG College of Arts & Science (PSGCAS) and with support from FICCI FLO, today launched WE-RISE – Women Entrepreneurs: Ready to Grow, Evolve for Tomorrow, a six-month incubation and financial enablement program designed to help women entrepreneurs strengthen their businesses and move towards formal finance and growth.

This program was conceptualized as many women entrepreneurs have strong ambitions but remain small because they lack growth capital, mentoring and business development support. Women’s World Banking’s work shows that business formalization, digital bookkeeping, digital finance, and market linkages can help women-led businesses grow.

WE-RISE was designed to bring this support together for the first cohort of 50 women entrepreneurs incubated by PSGCAS, helping them strengthen their businesses, prepare for formal finance and pursue growth.

Kalpana Ajayan, Regional Head – South Asia, Women’s World Banking, said, “India has demonstrated a strong commitment to women’s entrepreneurship through several programs that expand access to credit. The next opportunity is to help women-led businesses move from small loans to growth capital, mentoring and business development support they need to scale.

The need is significant. In our estimation basis IFC and ASUSE data, 2.7 million women-owned very small enterprises in India have an estimated unmet credit demand of ₹83,600 crores ($11.4 billion). By partnering with trusted academic institutions that bring credibility, strong local networks and the ability to incubate and test practical solutions, Women’s World Banking aims to develop models that strengthen women entrepreneurs’ bankability, market connectivity and pathways to growth.

These models can be replicated across India and contribute to the Viksit Bharat 2047 ambition of enabling 45 million women entrepreneurs.”
From incubation to credit and growth: Over six months, WE-RISE will guide participants from business incubation to formal credit and growth. Through workshops, online learning, business assessments and one-to-one mentoring, women will strengthen their operations and financial records, prepare loan applications and connect with financial institutions, markets and business networks. Follow-up support will help them use loans effectively, manage cash flow and put their growth plans into action.

Building evidence for women’s enterprise growth: Beyond supporting the 50 participating entrepreneurs, WE-RISE will generate practical evidence on the barriers women face in becoming credit-ready and the institutional pathways that can help address them.