 Thanks for joining us at WISIS Forum 2019 where we discussed the role of ICTs to empower women to take part in the digital economy. And my guest is Professor Ravi Chandran Krishnamurthy from NYIT, Abu Dhabi campus. Thank you very much for joining us, Professor. Good morning, Janet. And Professor, you are the director and founder actually of a program called Women Power International Foundation. It's a foundation you have created in India to help empower rural communities and women in particular. Yes, you are right. So this is founded in India to help the rural women in India because India has about 60% of rural population. So the women are struggling to market their products in India. So they produce a lot through some help from the government but they could not sell it. So I created an e-commerce portal to sell it worldwide their products in the international market. That's an idea. And it's all about boosting entrepreneurship and micro entrepreneurship in particular, isn't it? Yes, of course. See the basic idea for me since I'm an educationist I wanted to produce entrepreneurs basically. So that to women entrepreneurs because in the 2030 women's will exceed men in the world population. So to improve their skill levels I thought entrepreneurship will be the important thing for getting employment. So I started telling them entrepreneurship programs in the colleges to bring them entrepreneurship. Once they become an entrepreneur we are providing them skill development, we are providing finance for doing this project and also we purchase the products and sell it in the international market. So this is the total loop of this subject. So you are trying to create a sort of template to reproduce a model whereby women can empower themselves to become entrepreneurs. What are the main challenges they face in this journey? It's a tricky one, isn't it? Yes, the basic thing is first of all attitude. The women should think not for employment they should become entrepreneurs. The attitude has to be changed. So everybody who is studying in the colleges they think that they wanted to join a big MNC. But they don't want to become an entrepreneur. But because the society inside which we are living does not encourage entrepreneurship. This was the main challenge. So it's about raising awareness and changing mindset? It takes a long time to do that but basically I've started the framework now. I'm telling that you get ready as an entrepreneur that's enough. We will do all the job. We will train you, we will give you finance, we will market your product and we will give you profits. So this is the one help I can do from my side to do for the rural development for the village women basically. And from the conversation we've had previously another obstacle is possibly marketing your products. Yes, marketing a product may be an issue but what I focused is I go to a corporate and then say that okay you have plenty of women working here. Why can't you, these women can buy the women products? So that is the way I market in corporates now, even the governments now. I tell them those women who are employed let them buy women products. So by which they help one women to get more money. So that is the way I started this idea. Now successfully launched in India and also in UAE. We have a bilateral agreement where the women of UAE is putting their products inside. And women's of India is putting their products inside and we are selling in both the areas now. I've tied up with a lot of IT companies now to buy these products from their portals. A lot of women products are coming inside now, biodegradable products for women. A lot of products like makeup sets and everything which is homemade. So this is all coming on the line now. So you can check womenpower.org now.in which is a site for women's to buy their products. And finally, why was it important for you to attend Mrs. Forum? See the Mrs. Forum basically acknowledges the good researchers and also good projects. This gives you a mileage for me to market my products through the government and through the society also. It gives a brand for me at least a Mrs. gives me a brand. Now to tell me I am a nominated person in the Mrs. and I got an award in the Mrs. Forum. And also this is a body which supports all STGs of the UN. So this may be I think so. I've started now the journey. I don't know how the Mrs. Brand is going to help me. But it counts actually. I've seen from the last few days after my championship award was being nominated. I got a lot of calls from the government. I got a lot of calls from the local funders to encourage me actually. Something is in the limelight now. I don't know how far it would go actually. Fantastic. Professor Krishnamurthy, thank you very much. Thank you for this opportunity here. Good day.