Kerala promoting entrepreneurship with focus on gender equality, says Minister

Health Minister Veena George said on Saturday that Kerala was intensifying efforts to promote entrepreneurship with parallel focus on gender equality.

“The government’s vision and policy make it compulsory to implement steps that encourage women to enter entrepreneurship and innovation in stronger numbers. We have been increasingly organising programmes to up-skill and re-skill talents to increase their confidence,” she said while inaugurating online the valedictory ceremony of the two-day conclave, ‘Women Startup Summit 4.0, 2022’, of the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM).

Around 500 delegates are attending the summit, which hosted nearly 30 live sessions addressed by 80-plus speakers that included founders and managing partners, predominantly women, of a range of successful companies, according to a release.

Actor Remya Nambeesan, addressing the ceremony, said conventional gender biases could not anymore stop women from becoming entrepreneurs in a changed world marked by renewed fighting spirit amid institutional support.

All the same, the State’s film industry “has only 20% female presence” even as artistes “celebrate womanhood and our abilities. Each person has her unique performing capacity. We must not only recognise this fact but respect it as well,” she said.