WEE(Women Entrepreneurship and Empowerment), an initiative of IIT Delhi was founded in August 2016 and launched with ample media coverage. When there are so many Entrepreneur programs and Organization which are working for and by Entrepreneurs, how is this different? This question has arisen many times. Based on personal experience and interaction with co-founders of WEE, I present some of the unique qualities of WEE.
- Stanford Alumunus, Sarandeep Singh and IIT Delhi Alumni, Aparna Saraogi: A deadly combination where Aparna is still continuing her day job as youngest Women Vice President in RBS Bank while handling WEE responsibilities. Both are TEDx speakers, Motivational people who give hope whenever you meet them.
- Want to create a ecosystem where 1 billion women in all over world will be empowered. They are planning to utilize the chain effect to reach grass-root population present in Rural areas.
- WEE 6 month program is free of cost, unlike many similar events. You get to meet inspirational and influential speakers as your Mentors; have industrial visits in Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon, which is a dream of many; and strong bonding with fellow participants which is valued in long term.
- Top 5 women entrepreneurs get to win Rs 5 lakh grant from DST in every batch.
WEE has completed two batches till now and mix of women entrepreneurs is great. Some of the selected women are running a marathon while some are fast racer in business execution. WEE Foundation is also ecosystem partner of “smart 50 program, an initiative of IIM KOLKATA, DST and NDTV” and was a community partner in “Catapoolt Changemakers challenge season 2”.
Today I am featuring some of the start-ups of April 2017 batch.
1.Delhi knowledge Track: Domain: Education-Tech 
Launch date: October 2016. Current Subscriber Base: 49000+, Views: over 3.6 Million. DKT is a YouTube channel which is democratizing knowledge. They are making videos on a range of career options from Start-up category to toppers in entrance exams to prominent personalities to off-beat career options. Priya Jindal, co-founder of Delhi Knowledge Track is a former journalist and is Back-to-Work with this intriguing business.
2. Sagmarks : Domain: Medical-Tech
Sagmarks Pvt. Ltd. provides 3D Medical prototypes which can be used by doctors of maxillofacial, orthopaedic, cardiovascular and plastic surgeons in complex surgeries. They are breaking the monopoly of Medical 3D printers in India by making available this service at economical price to patients. They have successfully collaborated and delivered in big hospitals like AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Ranchi. Click here to read more about Khusbhu Soni, co-founder of Sagmarks.
3. Indie cotton Route: Domain: Health-Fashion
Indie Cotton Route Design Studio is brainchild of Shalini Saluja, who is running her online fashion start-up for four years now. Her products are Indian Ethnic wear made from sustainable clothing and handwoven work which is natural and chemical-free. Indie Cotton Route has also joined Estonia e-residency program. To read more click here.
4. AOEM Couture: Domain: Fashion-Tech
Bhavya Goel, young, professional who has quit from her job in KPMG for own start-up AOEM(All Eyes On Me) Couture in 2016. She is also selected for “Startup Bootcamp 2017 organised jointly by India Quotient and Zone Start-ups. AOEM couture makes high-street fashionable women’s wear at reasonable prices. These clothes can be custom styled as per buyer’s preferences.
5. PurpleApple Infosystems: Domain: Augmented Reality Technology
Amrutha Vali ventured into start-up world in 2016 through PurleApple Infosystems, which specializes in developing mobile applications and enterprise solutions using Augmented Reality. Her work is currently focused on tourism and fashion sector, although she is open to all fields. Her two applications, TRYb4uBUY and Virtual Humsafar are available in Android app store. Read more about her.
6. Happy Horizons Trust: Domain: Rural education
Happy Horizons Trust (HHT) was started in 2013 with the aim to give right education to children in rural areas through design thinking, story-telling and making schooling fun and creative. Vatsala, co-founder of HHT is working diligently in Bihar, Delhi and Bangalore. Read more about her.
7. FertilityDost: Domain: Health Tech
Gitanjali Banerjee has moved into the sensitive and much-needed domain of Infertility. Her start-up InfertilityDost is a community-based website which provides all-in-on-place solutions related to infertility. From counselling, doctors references, tips, community support, support after conceiving everything is being covered. Read more about her here.
8. Trip my way: Domain: Travel Tech
Trip my way is tourism based mobile app which provides in-trip audio and visual guides, interactive maps, beautiful photographs all accessible in offline mode. TripMyWay has worked with Government of Rajasthan, Archaeological Survey of India and INTACH. They have covered 5 UNESCO sites, 12+ cities and over 200+ destinations. Rachna Pande, the founder, is an engineer from IIT and MIT based in Delhi.
9. Kidzopedia: Domain: Education
Kidzopedia is online discovery platform for academies and parents to find best extra-curricular activities for kids from age 2 onwards. They are currently operational in Delhi-NCR, where they have collaborated with various schools, academies and conducted DMIT test workshops. Yashodhara Patil, founder has started this company on basis of parental issues faced by her.
12. MensenTock Communications Domain: Media
MensenTock Communication is a 360-degree solution for PR, Corporate Communications and Brand Advisory, headquartered in New Delhi. It was started by Neha Agarwal, in 2013. Since then she has helped numerous entrepreneurs and corporate in their brand value soaring and media strategies. They have expertise in dealing with Corp-orates as well as entrepreneurs alike.
13. QuizzingInc : Domain: Education
QuizzingInc is online quiz platform for school and college students. Quizzing Inc. was co-founded by Anisha Dube along with three DTU students. Quizzing Inc. is carving its niche in schools by preparing students for online competitive exams. eClub, SJMSOM-IIT Bombay is an official partner in their journey of contributing towards digitization of school education system focused towards Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities. To name some clientele – IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, SRCC and many more.
14. Uni World Care: Domain: Health
Uniworld care is in domain of medical tourism for both domestic and international patients. They are providing online consultation, preparing their electronic medical records (healthpatri) and connecting the patient to cost-effective quality treatment. They have our own medical advisory board for providing second opinion for difficult surgery or health problems. It is started by a doctor, Radhika with 20+ years of experience.
WEE Foundation has provided great platform to start-ups to represent themselves, from Indo-Isreal meeting to India-Canada Technology Summit. Some of the mentors are at high position. It was a privilege for all members to present their start-up in front of Debjani Ghosh, who has been appointed a first women President of NASSCOM and Ashutosh Verma, secretory of DST, GOI.
