New Delhi, February 8: In a bid to boost women entrepreneurship globally and empower budding businesswomen, Visa on Monday announced the recipients of its grant programme in India. This would be Visa's first global grant programme which will be in partnership with several startups that are led by woman entrepreneurs. Visa has partnered with IFundWomen, Bunko Junko, My Chapter One and MoWo Social Initiatives, where each one received a Rs 7,00,000 grant from Visa.

Resources from Instamojo will grow their businesses digitally, in a continued effort to offer better services to their communities. In a statement, Kevin Phalen, global head of business solutions, Visa that  access to funding, educational resources and a digital presence are fundamental building blocks that will help small businesses get back to not only surviving, but thriving.

Women-owned enterprises in India have grown from 14 percent to 20 percent in the past decade and employ between 22 to 27 million people.

  1. Highlighting this growth in women-led startups in India, Visa received applications from hundreds of businesses across the country in sectors including apparel and fashion, healthcare and wellness, food and beverages and art and events.

  2. The company evaluated 16 semi-finalists by a jury panel comprising senior leaders across Visa, FICCI FLO (FICCI Ladies' Organization) and Instamojo. The final winners were selected based on the count of jury votes.

In addition to the grants, Instamojo, the digitization partner, is providing the winners with tools and resources to help build their digital presence.