With an aim to support women entrepreneurs, Visa and its global partner IFundWomen on Monday announced the recipients of its grant programme in India to boost women entrepreneurship globally and empower budding businesswomen.

Winners, Bunko Junko, My Chapter One and MoWo Social Initiatives received a Rs 7,00,000 grant each from Visa and resources from Instamojo to grow their businesses digitally, in a continued effort to offer better services to their communities.

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“Access to funding, educational resources and a digital presence are fundamental building blocks that will help small businesses get back to not only surviving, but thriving,” Kevin Phalen, global head of business solutions, Visa, said in a statement.

“We are proud to provide businesses around the globe with the capital and educational resources they need to achieve their goals,” Phalen added.

Women-owned enterprises in India have grown from 14 per cent to 20 per cent in the past decade and employ between 22 to 27 million people. Highlighting this growth, Visa received applications from hundreds of businesses across the country in sectors including apparel and fashion, healthcare and wellness, food and beverages and art and events.

“At IFundWomen, our sole mission is to drive funding into the hands of women-owned businesses. We are so proud to be part of a program that supports these innovative entrepreneurs in India,” said Karen Cahn, founder & chief executive officer, IFundWomen.

“We could not think of a better partner with which to do our first official international grant program than Visa, a company who is deeply committed to supporting women-owned businesses around the globe.”

The company evaluated 16 semi-finalists by a jury panel comprising senior leaders across Visa, FICCI FLO (FICCI Ladies’ Organization) and Instamojo.

The final winners were selected based on the count of jury votes.

In addition to the grants, Instamojo, the digitization partner, is providing the winners with tools and resources to help build their digital presence.

This includes benefits such as free payment collection of up to Rs 3,00,000 and free shipping for products listed on Instamojo for the first fifteen shipments.