NASSCOM’s 10,000 Start-up Program Expands its Partnership with Black Box Connect; Launches Female Founders Edition

To encourage and evangelize the women start-ups community in the country, The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Black Box Connect announced the launch of Blackbox Connect Female Founders Edition. The initiative will give women entrepreneurs from India an opportunity to showcase their work at a global level. The collaboration is part of NASSCOM’s 10,000 start-ups initiative to build and sustain 10,000 technology start-ups in India by 2023.

Earlier Tookitaki, GreedyGames, Delta-X won the Blackbox Connect 2 week immersion program in Silicon Valley. Expressing his views on the collaboration, Mr. Fadi Bishara Founder and CEO of Blackbox said, “We are thrilled to have 10,000 Startups as a partner for Blackbox Connect Female Founders Edition and are looking forward to seeing the great companies that they will nominate. We have had a fruitful collaboration so far and we share the commitment to Google for Entrepreneurs #40Forward initiative, creating more inclusive networks and empower female leaders globally”.

Key Statistics - ‘Girls in Technology’:

- 11 closed group women focused events executed. Reached 1000 women professionals

- We are connecting and building up the current ~6% Tech start-ups with Women entrepreneurs*

- Building up comprehensive skill development programs specifically for women.

*NASSCOM Tech Startup in India Report

Last year, the ‘10,000 start-ups’ program launched a special initiative targeted towards women entrepreneurs in technology, christened as the ‘Girls in Technology’ (GIT) program. The program was aimed at encouraging and promoting women entrepreneurs in the country. Since its launch, NASSCOM has conducted various programs in Bengaluru, Chennai and Delhi which were attended by over 350 delegates.

Expressing his views on the women entrepreneur ecosystem, Mr. Rajat Tandon, Senior Director, NASSCOM said, “Women have always been a vital part of the Indian IT-BPM industry and has about 3.5 million female employees. Hence, it is imperative that they are encouraged to join the start-up revolution in the country. Through our collaborations and initiatives we hope to create more inclusive networks and to move the needle for women entrepreneurs.”

To further the cause of helping women and girls enter and succeed in technology start-ups, with the goal of enhancing women’s talent and skills needed to fuel technological and economic growth, NASSCOM has also partnered with Women Enhancing Technology (WeTech) for a special event with a group of 60 selected girls from middle and high school in Bangalore to develop mobile applications.  Women were mentored by 24 senior leaders from Goldman Sachs and Qualcomm and 3 winners were announced. Last year, NASSCOM organized a workshop on ‘GIT Version Control’ in partnership with Thought Works & Google Developers Group to encourage the women in the country to ‘Start-up’. The initiative received an overwhelming response from over 40 women entrepreneurs. These workshops were a platforms for knowledge sharing to bring together diverse women teams, enabling them to take better decisions, achieve higher ROIs, and greater IPOs.

NASSCOM 10000 Startups is proud to be part of the Google for Entrepreneurs #40Forward challenge, and is actively working towards increasing the representation of women in their respective communities. It is amongst the forty startup Communities that are actively working to create new approaches. With the milestones the program has achieved and the planned roadmap, 10,000 Startups aims to catalyze the technology start-up ecosystem and enable thousands of entrepreneur’s setup and grow their businesses and in the process further propel India’s economy. NASSCOM commenced the 10,000 Start-ups program with the support of Google, Kotak, Microsoft and Verisign in March 2013. Zinnov is the consulting partner of 10,000 Start-ups.

About NASSCOM:

NASSCOM® is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPM industry in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1400 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM's member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of software development, software services, software products, consulting services, BPM, e-commerce and web services, engineering services and animation and gaming. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs about 3 million professionals.