Amazon India, the leading eCommerce platform in India, has announced the launch of a new programme – Amazon Saheli. It is aimed at empowering and enabling women entrepreneurs across the country to sell their products on the its marketplace.
For this, the online eCommerce marketplace has collaborated with organisations that work towards encouraging women entrepreneurship, including Sewa (Self-employed Women’s Association) and Impulse Social Enterprise.
Women entrepreneurs, who are associated with these partner organisations, will now be able to offer their products to Amazon India customers through a dedicated storefront, Saheli Store.
Gopal Pillai, director and general manager, seller services, at Amazon India, said in a statement:
As a part of our commitment to transform how India buys and sells by enabling small entrepreneurs to scale up, we’ve now focused on the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs here to gain visibility and access to resources.
Jay Carney, senior vice-president, global corporate affairs at Amazon said, said,
Promoting entrepreneurship among women has become a key focus area for companies everywhere. E-commerce and specifically the e-marketplace model is a great avenue for women entrepreneurs to benefit from a fast-growing digital economy.
The company had earlier this year conducted a pilot for the store in Nagaland earlier this year in association with NSDC and the state government. Around 50 independent women entrepreneurs attended the workshop for two days.
Initially comprising handicrafts, apparel, handbags and home decor items, the Saheli Store will gradually scale up to onboard women entrepreneurs selling in different product categories. Amazon will help with access to logistics and fulfilment facilities as well.