Upaya Social Ventures and MIT D-Lab are joining forces to deliver a hands-on social business accelerator for early-stage women entrepreneurs. Taking place over the course of six months, the program will include three immersive workshops designed to equip entrepreneurs with the knowledge and connections to grow their businesses. Participants will receive technical training and one-on-one consulting support from Upaya’s experienced team, in partnership with Yunus Social Business.

The cohort will also participate in weekly learning labs focused on tackling the unique challenges female founders encounter while fundraising. In addition, participants meet and network with industry experts, investors, and peer entrepreneurs, and have the opportunity to pitch their businesses to Upaya and other investors for funding.

In addition to the program support, Upaya will select up to three businesses for USD 50,000 investment, and the cohort members will have an opportunity to participate in the Co-Design Sprint hosted by MIT D-Lab.

Meet the Women Entrepreneurs

Upaya and MIT D-Lab both believe in empowering women entrepreneurs to raise capital, grow their businesses, and create jobs that lift families out of extreme poverty. But research shows that female founders only receive 11% of seed financing. This cohort will explore issues around the gender financing gap and work together to tackle the barriers women entrepreneurs face in their fundraising journey.

The program is designed to bring together women entrepreneurs, spanning sectors and regions across India, to build skills such as fundraising, investment readiness, and leadership – all with a gender lens that exposes and addresses unique barriers to women’s success.

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Khedut Samriddhi

Namrata Acharya

Khedut Samriddhi

MOPP Foods

Geetika Anand Gupta

MOPP Foods

ReCharkha

Amita Deshpande

ReCharkha

Spudnik Farms

Sumeet Kaur

Spudnik Farms

Roots Reforms Initiative

Aruna Sampige

Roots Reforms Initiative

Mirandola Designs

Smita Singh

Mirandola Designs

GramHeet

Shweta Thakare

GramHeet

Orora Global

Savitha Sridharan

Orora Global

Taxshe

Vandana Suri

Taxshe

Joint Program Focus Areas

This collaboration between Upaya’s Accelerator Program and MIT D-Lab’s Scale-Ups Fellowship brings essential knowledge, capacity, and networks to women entrepreneurs, equipping them with the tools to access investment and grow their ventures. As part of this joint accelerator cohort, participants will become part of the Upaya Entrepreneur Network as well as the global network of MIT D-Lab Fellows with dual access to expertise and opportunities that each organization provides.

WORKSHOP
PARTNER

Technical training workshops co-created with
Yunus Social Business

INVESTMENT READINESS TRAINING

Three hands-on Upaya workshops, combined with individualized one-on-one support from the Upaya team, help entrepreneurs build key skills in financial modeling, impact management and leadership.

LEARNING LAB

MIT D-Lab's global program curriculum and approach will empower you to unpack the psychological barriers and gender biases women confront in the fundraising process

CO-DESIGN SPRINT

MIT D-Lab will engage investors, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders to co-design strategies that incentive more equitable investment by funding institutions and capital providers.

Program Timeline

Selection Criteria

About Your Enterprise

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EARLY-STAGE

Your enterprise is less than five years old but generating revenue, showing traction in sales, and growing fast.

FOR-PROFIT

Your company must be registered as a for-profit entity.

IMPACT FOCUS

Your business is focused on creating sustainable jobs and providing substantial income increase for people living in extreme poverty.

SCALABILITY

Your venture is tackling a big, important problem and has the capacity and ambition to scale operations and expand to create 1,000 jobs in seven years.