Kochi: The Kerala Government Thursday announced infrastructure support facility for women entrepreneurs at the garment manufacturing and export zone at Angamaly.
This was disclosed by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at the 'Women Entrepreneurs' (WE) Summit 2015', organised here by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) under the Women Entrepreneurship (WE) Mission programme.
In his inaugural address, Chandy said the Women Entrepreneurs Collaborating and Networking (WECAN) initiative of KSIDC would give a new impetus to women entrepreneurs in the state.
"Kerala has always been in the forefront of educating women and initiatives like this would help bridge the gap and bring in a positive trend.
"The state government would support to protect the local industry by building the necessary basic infrastructure," Chandy said.
The Chief Minister handed over the first financial assistance sanction letter under the WE Mission programme to Noorjahan, MD of Falcon Garments.
State Industries and IT Minister P K Kunhalikutty said MSMEs in Kerala are growing well and it is time for women entrepreneurs to move up to the next level. He claimed that Kerala will soon lead the country in per capita income.
P H Kurian, Principal Secretary - Industries & IT, said the WECAN aims to identify and help support 1,000 women entrepreneurs in the state to scale up existing enterprises.
The support would be in the form of infrastructure, mentoring, networking and facilitating financial options.
More than 1,500 women entrepreneurs from across Kerala are participating in the WE Summit.
Later talking to reporters, Chandy announced that the Centre has approved two mega food parks for Kerala, at Chertala and Palakkad.
The Chertala Mega Food Park of KSIDC would see an investment of Rs 130 crore while Palakkad Mega Food Park of KINFRA will entail Rs 119.02 crore investment.
The parks would generate direct employment for 4,500 persons and indirect employment for 17,000.
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries has sanctioned a grant-in-aid of Rs 50 crore for each project and the rest will be provided by the state government, Kunhalikutty said.