Tata Communications unveils project ‘S.H.E.’ to promote entrepreneurship education, gender equality and wellbeing of women at the UNESCO World Conference

Collaborates with The Better India; Aimed to reach out to one million women in India by 2024

Mumbai, INDIA, May 20, 2021

Tata Communications, a global digital ecosystem enabler, announced the launch of the ‘School of Hope and Empowerment’ (S.H.E.) at the 2021 UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development. S.H.E., a multi-media, multi-stakeholder impact communications initiative is designed in collaboration with The Better India, an impact driven Indian digital media platform, to support and educate women from small towns in India to overcome key barriers to entrepreneurship. By leveraging the power of digital connectivity and partnerships, Tata Communications will create enabling environments of, for and by women from marginalised communities to establish themselves as entrepreneurs and leaders in their communities.

 

S.H.E. includes a series of short films highlighting challenges faced by women in becoming entrepreneurs, such as gender stereotypes, family commitments, financial and societal constraints, and lack of self-belief. The trailer of the six-part video series, highlighting the inspirational journey of Hasrat Bano, a real-life rural woman entrepreneur, has been unveiled at the UNESCO event.

 

“When you decide to do a business, being a man or a woman does not make a difference, your brain and thinking does,” said Hasrat Bano. “S.H.E. is an initiative that provides us with the knowledge and guidance to use technology, learn new skills and become financially independent. It creates opportunities for us at a local level that helps us run a business.”

 

“When you decide to do a business, being a man or a woman does not make a difference, your brain and thinking does,” said Hasrat Bano. “S.H.E. is a milestone project in the journey of women like me who dream to become entrepreneurs. This initiative provides us with the knowledge and guidance to use technology, learn new skills and become financially independent. It creates opportunities for us at a local level that helps us run a business. We are grateful for this platform and hope women in rural India are able to benefit from this.”

 

Tata Communications aims to spotlight such stories of successful local entrepreneurs who are women, and offer them business grants, mentorship, digital training, amongst other key resources. Women, therefore, will be supported to embark on the path of financial independence to pursue their ideas and bring it to life. In addition to The Better India, the technical and knowledge partners will help strengthen the program implementation.

 

The aim of this project is to inspire at least a million women to realise their dreams of becoming entrepreneurs. In the first phase, S.H.E. is focused on aspiring women entrepreneurs aged 18-35 years from low-income backgrounds in the peri-urban areas of Dhanbad, Bokaro, East Singhbhum, Hazaribagh and Ranchi in Jharkhand. With just 25% of women in the labour force and limited employment opportunities in the region, this project will address the challenges of financial independence of these women. The next two phases of the project are aimed at including the entrepreneurial women in Odisha and Bihar.

Ends...


Smriti Arora Tata Communications +91 98192 76755 Smriti.Arora@tatacommunications.com Sanil Shirsat Adfactors PR +91 99230 78968 sanil.shirsat@adfactorspr.com

About Tata Communications

Tata Communications is a digital ecosystem enabler that powers today’s fast-growing digital economy.   The company enables the digital transformation of enterprises globally, including 300 of the Fortune 500 – unlocking opportunities for businesses by enabling borderless growth, boosting product innovation and customer experience, improving productivity and efficiency, building agility and managing risk.   With its solutions orientated approach and proven managed service capabilities and cutting-edge infrastructure, Tata Communications drives the next level of intelligence powered by cloud, mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), collaboration, security, and network services.   Tata Communications carries around 30% of the world’s internet routes and connects businesses to 60% of the world’s cloud giants and 4 out of 5 mobile subscribers.   The company’s capabilities are underpinned by its global network, the world’s largest wholly owned subsea fibre backbone and a Tier-1 IP network with connectivity to more than 200 countries and territories.   Tata Communications Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.   www.tatacommunications.com


Forward-looking and cautionary statements

Certain words and statements in this release concerning Tata Communications and its prospects, and other statements, including those relating to Tata Communications’ expected financial position, business strategy, the future development of Tata Communications’ operations, and the general economy in India, are forward-looking statements. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including financial, regulatory and environmental, as well as those relating to industry growth and trend projections, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of Tata Communications, or industry results, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, among others, failure to increase the volume of traffic on Tata Communications’ network; failure to develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; failure to successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services, including voice transmission services; failure to stabilize or reduce the rate of price compression on certain of the company’s communications services; failure to integrate strategic acquisitions and changes in government policies or regulations of India and, in particular, changes relating to the administration of Tata Communications’ industry; and, in general, the economic, business and credit conditions in India. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from such forward-looking statements, many of which are not in Tata Communications’ control, include, but are not limited to, those risk factors discussed in Tata Communications Limited’s Annual Reports. The Annual Reports of Tata Communications Limited are available at www.tatacommunications.com. Tata Communications is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements.

www.tatacommunications.com | @tata_comm | Tata Communications New World Blog | youtube.com/user/tatacomms © 2021 Tata Communications Ltd. All rights reserved. TATA COMMUNICATIONS and TATA are trademarks of Tata Sons Limited in certain countries.