Over 177,000 Women-Owned Businesses Benefit from GeM

New Delhi, Feb 25 (NationPress) Women entrepreneurs represent 8 percent of the overall seller base on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), with a total of 177,786 Udyam-verified women micro and small enterprises (MSEs) registered on the platform, achieving a total order value of Rs 46,615 crore, as stated in an official announcement on Tuesday.

"When the SWAYATT initiative was launched, there were merely 6,300 women-led businesses and approximately 3,400 startups registered on GeM. The growth since then has been remarkable," remarked L. Satya Srinivas, the CEO of GeM.

He further explained, "By tackling issues of 'access to market', 'access to finance', and 'access to value addition' via effective e-market linkages in public procurement, GeM has enabled startups to fulfill orders totaling Rs 35,950 crore."

GeM is celebrating six years of its Startups, Women, and Youth Advantage through eTransactions (SWAYATT) initiative.

Launched in February 2019, the aim of SWAYATT is to boost the participation of women-owned enterprises and youth in public procurement.

Aligned with GeM's core values of social inclusion, SWAYATT signifies the platform's commitment to improving the ease of doing business and creating direct market connections for annual public procurement for startups, women entrepreneurs, MSEs, Self Help Groups (SHGs), and youth, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Since its launch, the initiative has concentrated on training and onboarding last-mile sellers, enhancing women’s entrepreneurship, and fostering small businesses in government procurement.

GeM has also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Ladies Organisation (FICCI-FLO), which represents over 9,500 women entrepreneurs nationwide.

This partnership aims to provide women entrepreneurs with direct access to government buyers, eliminating intermediaries, which will ensure more competitive product pricing, stimulate local job creation, and promote inclusive growth.

By offering essential training, onboarding, and linkages, this collaboration aims to empower local businesses, stimulate inclusive economic development, enhance competition, and increase value addition in public spending.

Joyashree Das Verma, president of FICCI-FLO, commented that digital platforms like GeM have democratized access to opportunities for women entrepreneurs. She emphasized the significance of this partnership in developing value chains and expanding opportunities for women-led MSEs through advocacy, outreach, and mobilization, highlighting the necessity of training to broaden the reach of the GeM platform among associated members of the organization.

According to the official statement, conceived as a foundational initiative, SWAYATT now includes 'Startup Runway' and 'Womaniya' storefronts for dedicated listings, thereby enhancing the visibility of startups, women entrepreneurs, and youth to lakhs of government buyers across India. By removing entry barriers, GeM is empowering over 29,000 startups with business opportunities on its platform.

With an ambitious target of onboarding 100,000 startups registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade onto the portal, GeM is poised to become a vibrant ecosystem for startups in public procurement.

Through meaningful collaborations and capacity-building initiatives with last-mile women micro and small enterprises (MSEs), FPOs, SHGs, startups, and cooperatives, GeM aspires to double the number of women entrepreneurs on the portal and increase their share in the overall procurement of the country, as per the statement.