New Delhi: NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) and DP World have launched a joint initiative, ‘We Rise - Women Entrepreneurs Reimagining Inclusive and Sustainable Enterprises’, to empower women entrepreneurs and help them expand globally through trade facilitation, mentorship, and strategic partnerships.
The initiative, launched under WEP’s Award to Reward (ATR) programme, aims to identify and mentor women-led Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with high growth potential, helping them strengthen export capabilities and meet global trade standards.
On behalf of WEP, the Statement of Intent (SoI) was signed by Anna Roy, Mission Director, WEP, in the presence of B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog.
Using its global logistics network and trade expertise, DP World will collaborate with WEP to enhance export readiness among 100 women entrepreneurs. Selected participants will also get an opportunity to showcase their products at Bharat Mart in Dubai, a B2B and B2C marketplace located in the Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), connecting Indian businesses with international buyers.
As part of this initiative, WEP and DP World are focusing on empowering product-centric women entrepreneurs. With over 90,000 women entrepreneurs already engaged on the WEP platform, this collaboration marks a significant public-private effort to expand trade access and create opportunities for women-led enterprises to grow exponentially. It aligns with DP World’s commitment to inclusive trade and sustainable economic growth through expertise and collaboration.
B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, CEO, NITI Aayog, said, “This partnership supports the Government of India’s vision for women-led economic growth. Through ‘We Rise’, we aim to create an enabling environment where women entrepreneurs can grow, scale, and access global markets. By uniting efforts with DP World, a global leader in supply chain solutions, we are strengthening the foundation for long-term impact.”
Anna Roy, Mission Director, WEP, stated that for realising the goal of women-led development through entrepreneurship, there is a need for curated interventions, for which it is necessary for organisations in the public and private sectors to work in collaboration. She complimented DP World for taking this important initiative that will help in promoting women exporters.
WEP, incubated in NITI Aayog in 2018, transitioned into a public-private partnership in 2022. It serves as a national aggregator to strengthen India’s women entrepreneurship ecosystem and advance women-led development. With over 47 partners from the public and private sectors, WEP functions as an enabler, addressing six key ecosystem needs — access to finance, market linkages, training and skilling, mentoring and networking, compliance and legal assistance, and business development services.
Launched in 2023, the Award to Reward (ATR) initiative institutionalises WEP’s partnership framework by bringing together ecosystem stakeholders to address specific needs of women entrepreneurs while celebrating their success stories. It serves as a plug-and-play model fostering scalable collaborations and measurable impact.
BI Bureau
