Metro India News |  JAIPUR

Empowering women-led micro enterprises is both a social responsibility and an economic necessity, former Union minister Smriti Irani said on Monday, stressing that women entrepreneurs play a critical role in driving sustainable growth and employment.

Speaking at the session titled ‘Leadership Beyond Labels: Women, Power & Public Service’ at the Rajasthan Digifest and TiE Global Summit 2026, Irani said women must constantly push their own boundaries and remain willing to take risks, even after achieving professional success. She noted that confidence and resilience are essential for women to scale businesses and compete in a rapidly changing economy.

Irani highlighted her initiative SPARK, which aims to support one lakh women entrepreneurs across 300 cities by improving access to credit, encouraging formalisation and providing institutional support. The initiative focuses on enabling women to transition from informal operations to structured enterprises capable of long-term growth.

The second day of the 10th edition of the TiE Global Summit also saw the launch of a campaign to strengthen micro, small and medium enterprises as engines of economic expansion. According to TiE, the initiative aims to generate one crore jobs and create over USD 100 billion in economic value over the next five years by bringing together governments, industry bodies, investors and TiE chapters worldwide.

Key focus areas of the programme include regulatory simplification, easier access to capital, skill development, technology adoption and cluster-based regional growth. In another session, officials from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh underlined the importance of stable policies, simpler GST compliance and technology-driven, cluster-led development to boost MSMEs.

Following the discussions, memoranda of understanding were exchanged between the Andhra Pradesh government and TiE Hyderabad and TiE Visakhapatnam. An earlier session on future cities highlighted the growth of Dubai Internet City as a major technology ecosystem and its increasing role as a gateway for Indian startups through digital infrastructure, policy support and global collaboration.