Coimbatore Women Entrepreneurs Get Boost as Women's World Banking, PSGCAS and FICCI FLO Launch WE-RISE

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Chennai, October 1, 2026: Women’s World Banking (WWB), in partnership with PSG College of Arts & Science (PSGCAS) and with support from FICCI FLO, has launched WE-RISE – Women Entrepreneurs: Ready to Grow, Evolve for Tomorrow, a six-month incubation and financial enablement programme for women entrepreneurs in Coimbatore. 

Coimbatore Women Entrepreneurs Get Boost as Women's World Banking, PSGCAS and FICCI FLO Launch WE-RISE

The initiative will support 50 women entrepreneurs through enterprise incubation, mentoring, financial capability building, credit-readiness and market linkages, helping them strengthen their businesses and prepare for formal finance and growth. The programme brings together expertise in finance, entrepreneurship, academia and business networks to address challenges that often prevent women-led enterprises from moving beyond small-scale operations. 

Participants will receive support through workshops, online learning, business assessments and one-to-one mentoring to improve operations, maintain stronger financial records, prepare loan applications and connect with financial institutions and markets. 

Kalpana Ajayan, Regional Head – South Asia, Women’s World Banking, said the next opportunity is to help women-led businesses move from small loans towards growth capital, mentoring and business development support. She highlighted the estimated unmet credit demand of ₹83,600 crore ($11.4 billion) among 2.7 million women-owned very small enterprises in India, based on Women’s World Banking’s estimates using IFC and ASUSE data. 

WE-RISE will also provide follow-up support to help participants use loans effectively, manage cash flow and implement growth plans. Beyond the first cohort, the programme aims to generate practical evidence on barriers to credit-readiness and identify institutional pathways that can help women entrepreneurs access finance and scale their businesses. 

The partnership seeks to develop models that can potentially be replicated across India and contribute to the broader Viksit Bharat 2047 ambition of enabling women entrepreneurs.

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