Amazon India has announced a collaboration with Youth4Jobs Foundation, an organisation focused on helping youth with disabilities work towards a poverty-free life in India. The aim is to support women with disabilities by providing them access to Amazon.in, to grow their business online. Through the Amazon Saheli program, this collaboration seeks to bridge the gap between talented women with disabilities and wider market opportunities, enabling them to grow their business in the digital economy.
Comprehensive support and hands-on training for women entrepreneurs
The initiative will offer comprehensive support, including workshops, training, onboarding, and account management for these women sellers. They will receive hands-on training on digital marketing, performance marketing, product listing optimisation and advertising solutions to help them create a robust online business. They will also get access to valuable data-driven insights and metrics to understand customer behaviour and expectations, as well as key market trends.
Commenting on the partnership, Gaurav Bhatnagar, Director of Sales, Amazon India, says, "We recognise the potential of women entrepreneurs in strengthening India's digital economy. Our collaboration with Youth4Jobs aims to support women with disabilities by providing them with the tools and opportunities to build successful businesses on our e-commerce platform. We believe this initiative will contribute to creating a more inclusive digital marketplace."
“Our collaboration with Amazon Saheli is aligned with our commitment towards building resilient livelihoods for youth, specifically women with disabilities. By providing them access to online marketplaces and upskilling opportunities, we aim to make them not only self-dependent, but also significant contributors to the digital economy,” says Meera Shenoy, Founder Youth4Jobs.
“To work at the grassroot at scale, for economic empowerment of self-help groups and women with disabilities, we have partnerships with governments like Karnataka. With this Saheli partnership, we hope to address attitudinal barriers, unlock the entrepreneurial potential of these vulnerable women, thus giving the voiceless a voice in their families and community,” she adds.
Amazon Saheli: Empowering women since 2017
The Amazon Saheli program was launched in 2017, with the aim to enhance the awareness and accessibility of locally made products from women entrepreneurs and local women-owned businesses in India. As part of this program, Amazon works with partners to drive digitisation and provide requisite tools to women entrepreneurs, which enables them to become successful in their digital endeavours. Today, it has 60+ partners with a reach of 16 lakh+ women entrepreneurs from urban and rural sectors, with thousands of products across 10 categories like apparel, jewellery, groceries, etc. More than 80,000 women artisans are involved in this partnership and benefit from it. The artisans produce and sell these products to support their livelihoods.
Amazon has provided numerous opportunities for women across its ecosystem, including sellers, operations network partners, community beneficiaries, employees, and associates, all of whom play crucial roles in positively impacting Amazon's diverse customer base throughout the country. It has introduced various benefits, programs, and initiatives to empower women, within and outside its organisation. These initiatives highlight Amazon's dedication to women empowerment and its unwavering commitment to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in the e-commerce ecosystem.
