Britannia helping Indian women start business of their dreams

Since 2019, the Britannia Marie Gold My Startup contest has served as a springboard for Indian housewives with the drive and ambition to embark on their entrepreneurial journey, become financially independent, and transform themselves into job creators. This initiative is an ode to all the 3.8 million + women that have participated over the last three years. In an effort to pursue these aspirational homemakers' dreams, the brand brought on board a host of jury members, who have braved the world to start their own start-up journey from scratch. After weeks of deliberation, the Top 50 participants presented their business ideas to an esteemed jury panel comprising leading 'Womenprenuers'. This diverse jury had to shortlist the top 10 finalists from the vast participation received this year, based on the uniqueness of the business idea and innovation of thought.

Speaking on the conclusion of the jury round, Amit Doshi, Chief Marketing Officer, Britannia Industries Limited said, "Britannia Marie Gold has had a legacy of being the homemaker's teatime companion and through this initiative, we strive to create a more meaningful connection with them. Despite the uncertainty faced by us all in the past two years, we're proud to witness such an overwhelming response from our consumers. We are grateful to host such an esteemed jury panel comprising some of the most prominent 'Womenpreneurs' and media personalities of India that will be finalising our 10 winners this season. These winners will avail the opportunity to begin their entrepreneurial ventures. We have seen some wonderful business ideas and look forward to announcing the results soon."

The Britannia Marie Gold My Startup contest season 3 launched in September 2021 and has received an overwhelming response of more than 1.3 million entries from homemakers across India, with Maharashtra receiving the highest number of entries (20 per cent), followed by Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. "I am delighted that this wonderful platform created by Britannia has encouraged women from the smallest towns of India to come forward and say, 'Main bhi kuch karna chahti hoon'. As a writer who is constantly in search of stories, I find this truly inspirational," said Rashmi Bansal bestselling author & entrepreneur.

Renu Shah, Founder of Shakti e The Empathy Project (STEP), comments "Being an entrepreneur and running an incubation program for other women entrepreneurs in the social impact segment, I have been in total alignment with the concept right from the start. I was excited and humbled to be a part of a jury that got to witness such burgeoning talent and creative start-up ideas that women in our country have. I'd like to congratulate Britannia to have created a platform for women to encourage them to share their business ideas, in their transformation from homemakers to homepreneurs." "I am grateful to witness the journey of the women entrepreneurs across India via Britannia. We live in unprecedented times and women entrepreneurs are accelerating the pace of positive change. The program is a step in the right direction," said Sairee Chahal, Founder SHEROES and Mahila Money.

"It's wonderful to be associated with women empowerment in any way. But when the efforts are so thoughtfully focused on financial inclusion through supporting entrepreneurship as in the case of Britannia's Marie Gold My Startup Contest Season 3 #KyunkiBahutKuchHaiKarna as part of the jury one is privileged indeed. Wishing all the contestants the very best," said Piya Bahadur, CEO and Founder MeraBills. After two years of exceptionally high entries, the brand hopes to not only financially prepare these ten women for their journey, but also to turn them into active contributors to India's economy. Along with funding, the initiative will provide participants with mentorship and the necessary training with Google Digital Skilling to begin their Startup journey this year. (IANS/SP)

(Keywords: Indian, women, business, dreams, entrepreneur, contestants, jury, ideas, concept, platform, encourage, change, start-up, response, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, economy)