Google Launched “Women Will” Web Platform

Google has launched a new web platform ‘Women Will’ on March 8, 2021 on the occasion of “International Women’s Day”. This platform will provide its support to 1 million rural women in India in order for them to become entrepreneurs with the help of accelerator programmes, business tutorials and mentorship.

Highlights

This web portal can be accessed in English and Hindi languages. It will offer the guidance to the aspiring women in villages to turn their interest or a hobby like beauty services, tailoring, home tuition, food processing, etc. into business. It will also be providing guidance to manage and promote the business. In the initial phase, Google will work with 2,000 Internet Saathis in order to help women turn entrepreneurs.

Internet Saathi Programme

The Internet Saathis Programme was launched by Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai in 2015 with the objective of imparting digital literacy training to women across villages.

Other initiatives by Google

Google also announced initiatives on the occasion of Women’s day. Those initiatives include-

1. Committed a grant of $500,000 to Nasscom Foundation. This grant will reach out to 1 lakh women agri-workers in the states of Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. It will help in offering the digital and financial literacy training.
2. A global “Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls” was also announced. Under this, Google will offer $25 million in grants to the non-profits and social enterprises in India and other countries which are providing its support to the women and girls so as to reach their full potential.
3. Google has also announced to enable search in English for “women-led” such as “women-led restaurants,” “women-led clothing stores” and other such keywords on Google Search and Maps. It will provide support to women entrepreneurs. This feature is based on an opt-in feature on Google My Business where women-led businesses can identify on their Business Profiles.
4. Google had also announced in February 2021 to invest $15 million in order to provide its support to Indian small and micro enterprises in India amid the covid-19 pandemic.
5. Apart from the, the company had also announced in 2020, to invest Rs 75,000 crore in five to seven years to boost the digitization efforts in India.

Month: Current Affairs - March, 2021