Sixty Goan Women Entrepreneurs Kickstart Businesses as they receive the Goa Sashakti EntrepreNaari Grant
~ Supported by SBI Foundation and SBI Life the 60 women entrepreneurs were trained in branding, digital outreach and market access to scale women-led food businesses.
Panaji, March 2026 – Sixty women entrepreneurs from across Goa’s food and beverage sector marked the completion of their training under the Goa SBI Sashakti EntrepreNaari initiative. The programme focused on equipping women-led food enterprises with practical tools to scale their businesses, expand digital visibility, strengthen market access and a Rs. 50000 grant each to support their businesses.
The initiative, supported by SBI Foundation in collaboration with SBI Life and the Society for Education, Environment and Development (SEED), with Mumbai-headquartered Aspire For Her contributing subject expertise and mentorship, began last year. It selected 60 women entrepreneurs from across North Goa and South Goa as part of a dedicated cohort under the larger EntrepreNaari programme.
Many of the participants are home chefs, caterers and food processors who built small enterprises within their communities but are now seeking to expand their businesses more professionally. The 60 women entrepreneurs were picked from a list of 122 women entrepreneurs from across Goa who had previously been shortlisted.
Through the programme, the women received expert-led online training, one-on-one mentoring sessions and structured networking opportunities designed to strengthen their business operations. The training modules covered areas such as branding, digital outreach, customer engagement and strategies for accessing larger markets.
As part of the initiative, each EntrepreNaari received a grant of ₹50,000 to support the early growth of her food business. The participants represent a wide range of food enterprises across Goa, including traditional Goan cuisine, bakery and confectionery, millet-based products, pickles, papads, masalas and catering services. Many of the entrepreneurs currently operate small home-based ventures with monthly incomes ranging from a few thousand rupees to more established micro-enterprises seeking to scale their production, secure licences such as FSSAI certification and expand their market reach.
Among the participants were Latifa Shaikh from Merces, who produces healthy baked goods and jaggery-based products such as ragi and almond chocolate cake, khapli wheat supersede cake and jaggery cookies, and Maya Shirodkar from Mapusa, who specialises in authentic Goan Saraswat cuisine and traditional Goan cuisine.
Said Swapan Dhar, MD, CEO, SBI Foundation, “Together Aspire for Her, SEED along with SBI Life and SBI Foundation has empowered the lives of women in Goa who have started their entrepreneurial journey today. We are incredibly proud to support this project which has turned dreams into reality and helped women become financially independent and be business owners.”
Said Ravindra Sharma, EVP and Chief of Brand, Corp. Comm and CSR, SBI Life, “At SBI Life we continue to empower women through the projects we support such as Goa Sashakti EntrepreNaari.”
Said Rajaram Chavan, AVP & Program head, SBI Foundation, “Empowering women leads to the success of the economy as well as the success of the nation. Today may be the end of our project in Goa but it’s the start of the entrepreneurial journey of 60 ladies.”
Said Romira Roy, Founder, SEED “The ladies who came forward when we started this Goa Sashakti EntrepreNaari project came with a dream. Today we see that dream turned into an entrepreneurial venture.”
Said Raman Tyagi, ED, SEED, “The continued support of SBI Foundation and SBI Life has helped create several entrepreneurial ventures of women in Goa. We hope to run several such projects successfully across other states of India in the years ahead”.
Madhura DasGupta Sinha, Founder and CEO of Aspire For Her, said the initiative demonstrates how the right support ecosystem can help women entrepreneurs translate their ideas into viable enterprises.
The closing event brought together programme partners, mentors and participating entrepreneurs to reflect on the initiative’s impact and distribute grants and mementoes to the beneficiaries.
The event provided a platform for participants to connect with mentors, programme partners and fellow entrepreneurs as they take the next step in their business journeys.
