Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google LLC, and President of Google.org, Jacquelline Fuller announce a series of programs to support the economic empowerment of women in India. At the virtual edition of Google for India event called Women Will, the duo shared a vision to create an ecosystem of entrepreneurship enablers to help narrow the gender gap.

The initiatives will be coordinated under Google’s Internet Saathi program, which was launched in 2015. As an extension of the program, Women Will Google promises to continue to support women in rural India to pursue their ambitions and improve their livelihoods through entrepreneurship. The company adjoins that the initiative will be complemented by community support, mentorship, and accelerator programs for rural women entrepreneurs.

Available in English and Hindi, the Women Will platform is designed especially for women aspiring to explore entrepreneurship. Through a ‘how to’ curriculum on turning an interest into a business, managing an enterprise, and promoting it for growth, the platform will provide guidance and support to women who want to convert an existing hobby or talent such as tailoring, beauty services, home tuition, food processing, etc. into some income. To begin with, Google is planning to work with 2,000 Internet Saathis to help other women gain from this resource and start on their entrepreneurial journey.

“As we make these commitments in India, we are very conscious that the disruption of 2020 has widened the gender equity gap globally. Post-COVID-19, a future of all-round prosperity is anchored in the guarantee of gender equity, and this requires concerted but bold efforts,” company wrote in its blog.

Google.org, which connects nonprofit innovators with the best of Google’s resources, also announced the launch of a global Google.org Impact Challenge for Women and Girls. Under this initiative, Google effort plans to provide $25 million in overall funding to nonprofits and social organizations in India and around the world that are working to advance women and girls' economic empowerment and create pathways to prosperity.