Swavalambini Women Entrepreneurship Programme - A Pilot Project

• 31 Jul 2025
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The Swavalambini Women Entrepreneurship Programme was launched by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) in partnership with Women Entrepreneurship Platform of NITI Aayog as a knowledge partner. 

The scheme was launched as a pilot project in February 2025 in six Higher Education Institutions/Universities of 5 states, namely, Assam, Telangana, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh and Mizoram.

At present, the Ministry is implementing the initiative via Autonomous Institutes, i.e., the National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD) of Noida and the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) of Guwahati.

The Swavalambini project provides a structured, multi-stage training approach designed to assist young women transition smoothly from the ideation phase to successful enterprise creation. 

The project intends to encourage entrepreneurial mindset among female students and provide them with awareness regarding various support mechanisms, resources, schemes and networks that are crucial for pursuing the entrepreneurship domain.

The Swavalambini Project's target group includes 1200 female students from higher educational institutes and universities. These students will partake in an introductory programme on entrepreneurial awareness through Entrepreneurship Awareness Programme.

From this group, a total of 600 students will be selected to undertake the Entrepreneurship Development Programme. This programme offers intensive training that covers crucial aspects of entrepreneurship like skill development, access to finance, market linkages, compliance and legal support, business services and networking opportunities. 

This training will be followed by 21 weeks of mentorship and support to help participants convert their ideas into sustainable enterprises. The execution, supervision and monitoring of the programme will be overseen by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. 

On the other hand, the NITI Aayog will conduct workshops, offer mentoring assistance, assist in seed funding and acknowledge successful entrepreneurs via Award to Reward initiative. 

Leaders in the sector and accomplished businesspeople will mentor and assist the participants during the mentoring and handholding support. Successful business owners will be asked to talk about their experiences and emphasize on the obstacles they faced and the methods they adopted to form their companies.

The initiative also includes a Faculty Development Programme, in which faculty members from participating HEIs/Universities will participate in a five-day training session to guarantee long-term impact. This program will give the faculties the tools they need to support and coach potential female entrepreneurs at their institutions.

As on 15th July 2025, the programme-wise information regarding participants trained under the pilot project is as follows:

The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship will assess the feasibility of expanding the Swavalambini Program to a broader network of Higher Education Institutions across more states and Union Territories, based on the results of the pilot program. 

The goal of the initiative is to integrate entrepreneurial knowledge into higher education and empower young women to create jobs and contribute significantly to India's innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

The Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Shri Jayant Chaudhary, gave this information in a written response to Rajya Sabha on 30th July 2025.

Source: Press Information Bureau (PIB)