Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Philip Green OAM, and Telangana Minister for Information Technology, Electronics, Communications, Industries, and Commerce, Duddilla Sridhar Babu, have announced a new partnership between the Australian government and WE-Hub, the government of Telangana. The partnership is aimed at supporting women, marginalized communities, and the LGBTIQ+ community in entrepreneurship through a 13-week pre-incubation program called Start-X.
Sridhar Babu highlighted the importance of empowering women and mentioned the upcoming MSME policy that will create more opportunities for women to become entrepreneurs and create jobs for themselves and their communities. He also emphasized the need for legislative processes to procure women entrepreneurs in the government.
With the support of the Australian High Commission, the government has already launched an exclusive pre-incubation program called ‘Upsurge’ for 150 women entrepreneurs. The Start-X program, funded by the Australian government, aims to further expand support for women across the state and help them establish viable startups in the social space and international exports.
Green expressed Australia’s commitment to working with WE-Hub and the government of Telangana to deliver Start-X. He highlighted Australia’s role as WE-Hub’s first international partner and emphasized the importance of instilling entrepreneurial skills in women, marginalized communities, and the LGBTIQ+ community in the state.
The announcement event was attended by Australian Consul General in Bengaluru, Hilary McGeachy; Principal Secretary of the Industries and Commerce (I&C) and Information Technology (IT) Departments, Jayesh Ranjan; and CEO of WE-Hub, Deepthi Ravula.
