Abstract

The case is about US-based multinational technology company Google Inc.’s web platform called 'Women Will' that sought to empower women globally. The platform would be equipped with all the information relevant to women entrepreneurs, right from starting a business to making it successful. Women Will was launched in India in 2021. Through the platform, Google promised to transform the lives of female entrepreneurs in the country digitally. The search giant announced that it would offer community support, mentorship, and accelerator programs to rural women entrepreneurs who wanted to convert an existing skill or talent into a business. The economic empowerment program was expected to support 1 million rural women in the country to become entrepreneurs. Under the program, Google collaborated with the social arm of NASSCOM (Chamber of Commerce for Tech Industry in India) NASSCOM Foundation, to empower 100,000 women farmers across six Indian states by imparting digital and financial literacy skills to them. Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai announced a grant worth US$25 million for nonprofits across the world working on advancing women and girls' economic empowerment.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the need for empowerment of women in rural India
• Analyze Google’s Women Will initiative to create economic opportunities for rural women
• Explain the steps taken by Google to bring its Women Will program into being
• Understand how digital and financial literacy can help women become entrepreneurs

Keywords

Women empowerment; Women entrepreneurship; Livelihood promotion; Philanthropic initiative; Social transformation; Digital literacy; Digital gender divide; Digital and financial literacy; Gender barrier; Gender gap