IIT Mandi Helps Women Become Entrepreneurs
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, Himachal Pradesh has established an incubator known as EWOK which helps rural women to set up their own services and small enterprises. The IIT Mandi initiative EWOK offers various small duration courses to women of the Mandi District.
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, Himachal Pradesh has established an incubator in its campus to provide a platform to rural women of Kamand Valley in Mandi to become entrepreneurs. This is an initiative of IIT Mandi Women’s Center. The incubator is known as Enabling Women of Kamand (EWOK), that helps the rural women of the valley to set up their own small enterprises or services.
EWOK mainly partners with women from the four panchayats of the Mandi district which include Natalya, Kamand, Katindhi and Kataula. The first batch of EWOK had seven women who earned certifications in Spoken English, Computer Literacy and Personality Development. They graduated from their respective courses in May 2018 and a convocation program was held on 28th June 2018 at the EWOK office, IIT Mandi.
EWOK offered two certification courses to the women of the valley in association with NIIT Foundation. One of them was Introduction to the Internet which focused on online ticket booking, enrolling to open universities, banking etc. The second course was the basic computer literacy certification which covers training in MS office. The other two courses in Personality Development and Spoken English focuses on English conversational skills as well as developing one’s personality skills. All the courses are for three months with daily classes of two hours each.
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Dr. Priscilla Gonsalves, Chief Advisor, EWOK talked about the importance of the initiative and the commitment of the institute to develop the local community. She further said that the initiative strives to help the local women by imparting the knowledge and training. It also helps to bridge the gap between the rural and the urban.
Two of the women from EWOK have got paid internships and a third one has even applied for a license to take up contractual work.
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Ms. Parvati from EWOK shared her experience regarding the same. She is a resident of Sandoa village and said that she is happy that she received such an opportunity to work after her training at EWOK. Her interaction with various other women has helped her overcome fear and she is now interning with one of the Assistant Professors in IIT Mandi.
Image Courtesy: NDTV