WE Hub, an initiative by Telangana government that works to promote women entrepreneurship, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with social commerce platform Meesho to aid women entrepreneurs of Telangana state.

This collaboration is to provide “robust market access to women-led businesses in the State, help small businesses grow and thrive in the post-pandemic environment. The entrepreneurs can register as suppliers on the Meesho platform which enables them to sell a wide range of products on a national e-commerce platform,” said a statement.

WE Hub CEO Deepthi Ravula and Meesho founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey signed the MoU. Startups from WE Hub as well as others part of the Telangana startup ecosystem will be able to leverage this partnership and expand their market in the country.

IIT Delhi graduates Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal are the brains behind an Indian-origin social e-commerce platform, Meesho. It enables small businesses and individuals to start their online stores via social channels such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram etc. In June 2019, Meesho became India’s first startup to receive investment from Facebook.

WE Hub Foundation is India’s first and only State led Incubator to promote and foster women entrepreneurship by way of Incubation, Access to Government and create a Global collaborative network for Women led Enterprises to thrive. Its mission is to ensure that all women entrepreneurs in the country have access to technical, financial, governmental and policy support required to start-up scale up sustain and accelerate with global market access. The work of WE Hub is primarily in the fields of providing access to technical, financial, government and policy support required to start-up, scale up and accelerate with global market access, to all women entrepreneurs in the country.

Ms.Ravula said “small women led businesses have always been left behind due to the digital divide that exists. Through our new partnership with Meesho, small businesses in Telangana will learn about taking the next step in expanding their markets and converting their customer base and sales in entirely new ways.’’

Meesho will provide national market access by getting the women entrepreneurs from the State on the platform both as suppliers of products as well as resellers, Mr.Aatrey said.

"When women succeed, everyone benefits. There is no tool more effective for women than their economic development." WE Hub through this partnership also aims to promote homepreneurs by providing digital and financial literacy training to the women registered as homepreneurs on the Meesho platform..