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Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India Reports 137
The event featured a high-level Industry Round Table Meet on 'Quality Assurance and Brand
Building in India's Handloom Sector: Tools, Techniques and Best Practices'. The session was
attended by industry experts and practitioners to discuss quality standards, branding
strategies, design innovation and market linkages for strengthening artisan enterprises.
(2nd from L) Chief Guest, Mr. Ashish Tripathi, CEO & Head (IBU), HSBC felicitating (2nd from R)
Mr. Dhoriya Bhojraj Damji, a Divyang (differently-abled) weaver from Kutch, Gujarat, for his
lifelong dedication to preserving traditional Mashroo weaving. Also, present on the occasion
were: Dr. Sunil Shukla, Director General, EDII and Dr. Raman Gujral, Professor & Director-
Department of CSR Partnerships.
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Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India Reports 137
WEutsav: Celebrating Women Entrepreneurship
To give a bigger platform to women, a WEutsav Exhibition was organized by Women
Entrepreneurs Access Connect Transform (WeAct) on February 14, 2026. The exhibition
came across as a powerful platform to celebrate and promote rural women entrepreneurs by
providing them with exposure to real market environments. The exhibition brought together
entrepreneurs from 10 states, featuring 15 product-selling stalls and 10 state-specific
experiential zones, where visitors could directly interact with artisans and learn about
traditional crafts. The exhibition witnessed a footfall of over 2000 visitors, benefiting more
than 2000 WeAct members. Entrepreneurs collectively generated approximately Rs. 10 lakhs
through on-site sales.
The event was inaugurated by Dr. Sunil Shukla, Director General, EDII. Also present at the
event were Mr. Daniel Thomas, Vice President – CSR, Accenture; Mr. Yathindra L, Director,
National Institute of Fashion Technology; Ms. Pinaki Srimany, Associate Vice President – CSR,
Standard Chartered; Mr. Suneel Kumar, Joint Director, District Industries Centre, Bengaluru;
Ms. Kirthika Tharan, Founder, Hepta Senz and Dr. Raman Gujral, Director, Department of CSR
Partnerships, EDII.
WeAct member Ms. Noorjahan
(Pondicherry) was honoured with
the University of Notre Dame
Award for business building and
creating sustainable economic
impact through her enterprise.
Ms. Sajini and Ms. Renuka (WeAct
members) were awarded grants
of Rs. 1,70,000 each under the
Coca-Cola Micro grant, in
recognition of their efforts to
create sustainable livelihoods and
drive economic empowerment at
the grassroots level.
WeAct introduced NFC-enabled cards for members who are consistently scaling their
businesses. This technology intervention serves as a step towards digital empowerment,
enabling entrepreneurs to enhance their business prospects, improve customer
engagement and adopt modern, tech-enabled solutions.
In a bid to expand support mechanism for rural entrepreneurs in Kerala and the potential
benefits of establishing a Common Facility Centre, recently EDII had an elaborate discussion
with Mr. Daniel Thomas, Vice President – CSR, Accenture, who had visited EDII Kerala office
in Thrissur. The discussions reinforced the need to strengthen enterprise support systems.
Ms. Keerthana Sheshadri, National Grants Manager, Accenture, visited the EDII office in
Assam and interacted with two enterprise clusters in Kamrup district for maximising results.
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