Australia, TS govt announce new partnership

Hyderabad: Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Philip Green OAM, and Telangana Minister for Information Technology, Electronics, Communications, Industries, and Commerce, Duddilla Sridhar Babu, announced a new partnership between the Australian government and WE-Hub, the government of Telangana, on Monday.

The new programme, Start-X, is a 13-week pre-incubation programme delivered by WE Hub to support women, marginalised communities, and the LGBTIQ+ community in entrepreneurship. Sridhar Babu said, “With our new MSME policy, which is being conceptualised, we will ensure that more women can go from being homepreneurs and hobbypreneurs to entrepreneurs who are creating jobs for themselves and their local communities. We will also ensure that there are legislative processes through which we can procure women entrepreneurs in government”.

With the support of the Australian High Commission, the government rolled out an exclusive pre-incubation programme ‘Upsurge’ for 150 women entrepreneurs. “With StartX, a new programme funded by the Australian government, we will ensure that WE Hub becomes a single platform for more women across the State to become viable startups in the social space and international exports. We look forward to working with the Australian government for more opportunities and support for our women entrepreneurs,” he said.

Green said, “Australia was WE Hub’s first international partner, and we look forward to working with WE Hub and the government of Telangana to deliver Start-X, a new initiative focused on instilling entrepreneurial skills in women, marginalised communities, and the LGBTIQ+ community in the State.”

Australian Consul General in Bengaluru, Hilary McGeachy; Principal Secretary of the Industries and Commerce (I&C) and Information Technology (IT) Departments, Jayesh Ranjan; and CEO WE-Hub, Deepthi Ravula, were also present.