
WE HUB: Where women work wonders
Excerpts
What inspired you to champion the cause of women entrepreneurs?
My journey began in the trenches of entrepreneurship, where I learned the challenges of building from scratch and saw how unforgiving the system can be, especially for women.
In 2011, after moving to Singapore, I connected with women leaders globally. Despite different geographies, the same roadblocks emerged — women were navigating a landscape not designed for them.
In 2014, I launched The Angel Summit, a network bringing together women from various sectors. These conversations led to real outcomes: gender-forward policies, women-led incubators, and inclusive economic pathways.
Today, I work at the intersection of technology, gender, and inclusive economics, building scalable systems to support women-led businesses, especially in emerging markets. At WE Hub, my mission is to ensure women not only enter the room but shape it.
Can you highlight a few ongoing programmes catering to women in urban, rural, and tribal areas?
At WE HUB, we don't believe a one-size-fits-all approach works when you're building for the next generation of women entrepreneurs and leaders.
In the urban vertical, our work spans across education, early-stage entrepreneurship, and scale-up journeys. Three core programmes anchor this vertical:
WE Enable: Focused on young women in colleges, this programme is about planting the seed early — building entrepreneurial thinking, industry exposure, and leadership skills to create career-ready women who don't just seek jobs, but create them.
WE Engage: This is our flagship entrepreneurship programme, structured to meet women where they are in their startup journey.
WE Elevate: This programme caters to growth-stage founders and MSMEs — providing targeted interventions, access to markets, mentors, and institutional investors. It's designed to support entrepreneurs ready to move from survival to scale.
Our Social Impact & Entrepreneurship (SIE) vertical recognises that women in Tier-2, Tier-3, and tribal regions have different starting points. Here, we design programmes supporting women-led businesses across the entire entrepreneurial life cycle, from ideation to scale-up:
WE Reach: A three-month pre-incubation programme providing skills in business management, financial, and digital literacy, concluding with Udyam registration support.
Project Inclusion: A six-month incubation programme offering expert sessions, branding, financial linkages, and business registration support for MSMEs.
WE Leads: A 10-month acceleration programme for growth-stage women-led MSMEs, focusing on revenue growth, market diversification, and national and international expansion.
WE HUB is also setting up district-level Women Centres of Excellence (WCEs). The proposed districts are: Warangal, Hanumakonda, Peddapalli, and Nalgonda. These centres will serve as local hubs for empowering women by offering skill development training, entrepreneurial capacity building, and manufacturing support across various sectors.

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- The Hindu
WE Hub to be inaugurated in Peddapalli soon to foster entrepreneurial potential among women: IT and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu
Minister for IT and Industries D. Sridhar Babu said that 'WE Hub' — the State-led Nodal Organisation for Women Entrepreneurs — centre will be inaugurated in Peddapalli town soon to bolster the State government's efforts to help women realise their full entrepreneurial potential. He was speaking at a meeting held as part of the constituency-level Indira Mahila Shakti celebrations in Peddapalli town on Wednesday. Minister for Agriculture Tummala Nageswara Rao and Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development D. Anasuya (Seethakka), among others participated in the celebrations. Interest-free loans, Loan Bheema and accident insurance claim cheques were disbursed on the occasion. Mr. Sridhar Babu said the Congress government's multiple initiatives, including disbursal of interest-free loans to women self-help groups (SHGs), improved women's access to skill development, vocational training, financial inclusion and entrepreneurship. These initiatives helped women SHGs to start food processing and dairy units, Indira Shakti Canteens, lease out buses to the TGSRTC and take up various other income-generating activities across the State, he noted. Approximately ₹26,000 crore was disbursed as loans to women SHGs through bank linkage in the State since the formation of 'People's government' in December 2023. Plans are afoot to set up solar power plants under the aegis of the women SHGs in Manthani and Kalvasrirampur mandals in the district, he added. Peddapalli MLA Ch Vijaya Ramana Rao, CEO of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), Telangana, Divya Devarajan, and others were present.


Business Standard
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- Business Standard
fischer Offers Professional Sprinkler Installation for Sprinkler Systems
NewsVoir Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], July 14: fischer offers sprinkler loop hangers, pipe clamps, beam clamps and fastening elements approved by Germany's Property Insurer Associations FM and VdS, certifying their suitability for safe application in sprinkler systems. Plugs and anchors suitable for sprinkler systems feature CE marking based on the relevant ETA. Sprinkler systems are an important component of fire protection systems, the requirements of which go beyond building regulations in some cases. They are highly effective in extinguishing and making people aware of fire hazards. As a result, they are fitted as standard in many buildings. Mr. Mayank Kalra, Managing Director of fischer India, emphasizes the company's unwavering commitment to delivering robust, certified solutions that meet global standards like FM and VdS. "Sprinkler systems are a critical aspect of modern fire protection solutions, ensuring safety and compliance beyond standard building regulations. fischer continues to set industry benchmarks by prioritizing safety, quality, and compliance. Through reliable and globally certified solutions, the company remains dedicated to safeguarding lives and infrastructure across diverse built environments." Sprinkler systems are an important component of fire protection systems, the requirements of which go beyond building regulations in some cases. They are highly effective in extinguishing and making people aware of fire hazards. As a result, they are fitted as standard in many buildings. Applicable guidelines include the European VdS standard (VdS CEA 4001) and the almost identical EN 12845 (European standard), the American FM standard 1951 (Factory Mutual Insurance Company, FM Global) in addition to the UL standard (Underwriters Laboratories, UL) based on the NFPA 13 (National Fire Protection Association, NFPA). The American standards can complement one another as well as the European standards and guidelines in terms of the requirements when fastening conduits, although there are some differences to be considered when looking at the details. Depending on the guideline, different load specifications apply to pipe supports for sprinkler conduits as a test load or minimum load-bearing capacity or in terms of fastening distances and connection thread sizes when using steel pipes. These regulations cover pipe clamps and loops in addition to all other fastening elements, such as plugs, anchors, beam clamps and trapezoidal sheet hangers. 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Another new addition to the range is the ETR-L, fischer's U-bolt with a longer metric thread that offers even more flexibility on top of the ETR when fastening various pipe systems in buildings. The version with two screws enables optimised adaptation to the outer diameter of the pipe. The U-bolt is fastened to steel profiles or consoles. The fischer FETR-C channel connector allows the fischer ETR/ETR-L to be connected to the FUS channel system with ease. It can be freely positioned on all FUS channels, regardless of their hole pattern. fischer's range of products suitable for sprinkler systems includes plugs and anchors deemed suitable for sprinklers as per the VdS and FM standards and features a CE marking based on the relevant ETA. fischer's fixing solutions for sprinklers cover a vast range of applications. 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fischer offers sprinkler loop hangers, pipe clamps, beam clamps and fastening elements approved by Germany's Property Insurer Associations FM and VdS, certifying their suitability for safe application in sprinkler systems. Plugs and anchors suitable for sprinkler systems feature CE marking based on the relevant ETA. fischer sprinkler system installation Sprinkler systems are an important component of fire protection systems, the requirements of which go beyond building regulations in some cases. They are highly effective in extinguishing and making people aware of fire hazards. As a result, they are fitted as standard in many buildings. Mr. Mayank Kalra, Managing Director of fischer India, emphasizes the company's unwavering commitment to delivering robust, certified solutions that meet global standards like FM and VdS. 'Sprinkler systems are a critical aspect of modern fire protection solutions, ensuring safety and compliance beyond standard building regulations. fischer continues to set industry benchmarks by prioritizing safety, quality, and compliance. Through reliable and globally certified solutions, the company remains dedicated to safeguarding lives and infrastructure across diverse built environments.' Sprinkler systems are an important component of fire protection systems, the requirements of which go beyond building regulations in some cases. They are highly effective in extinguishing and making people aware of fire hazards. As a result, they are fitted as standard in many buildings. Applicable guidelines include the European VdS standard (VdS CEA 4001) and the almost identical EN 12845 (European standard), the American FM standard 1951 (Factory Mutual Insurance Company, FM Global) in addition to the UL standard (Underwriters Laboratories, UL) based on the NFPA 13 (National Fire Protection Association, NFPA). The American standards can complement one another as well as the European standards and guidelines in terms of the requirements when fastening conduits, although there are some differences to be considered when looking at the details. Depending on the guideline, different load specifications apply to pipe supports for sprinkler conduits as a test load or minimum load-bearing capacity or in terms of fastening distances and connection thread sizes when using steel pipes. These regulations cover pipe clamps and loops in addition to all other fastening elements, such as plugs, anchors, beam clamps and trapezoidal sheet hangers. Pipe clamps and loops must be approved and listed under the FM and UL standards. VdS and EN 12845 specify aspects such as minimum material thickness and width requirements that must be met in addition to the specified loads. The fixing specialist fischer offers sprinkler loop hangers (FRLH/FRSP/FCHS), riser clamps (RCWR), U-bolts (ETR), threaded rods/threaded pins (G/GS), beam clamps (TKLS/TKL) and profile hangers (TZ/TZH) that meet these requirements. The KDS toggle plug allows conduits and other components to be easily mounted on the trapezoidal metal sheet in stationary sprinkler systems in a compliant and convenient manner. The height-adjustable threaded rod, which is secured to prevent it from accidentally loosening, allows the components to be practically aligned on trapezoidal metal sheets. Various lengths of the KDS toggle plug cover different applications. Other new additions to fischer's range include the corrosion-resistant TKLG swivel beam clamp, which was designed to safely and easily fasten sprinkler pipes to inclined steel supports thanks to its technical ingenuities. FRLH is a premium sprinkler loop hanger which allows approved sprinkler systems to be installed in buildings with height adjustment and is highly corrosion resistant. FRSMN, a two-screw galvanised heavy-duty pipe clamp without a sound insulation insert, is approved for sprinkler systems and comes equipped with a double connection nut and from DN 300 with an M16 connection nut. The connection nuts are pushed through or welded all round and provide pipe fastenings with a higher bending strength. The version with two screws enables optimised adaptation to the outer diameter of the pipe, which means that pipes with an outer diameter of 15 – 521 mm can be securely fastened with threaded pipes indoors. 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Pipe supports can be carried out in concrete (single and multiple fastenings), aerated concrete, trapezoidal metal sheets and in steel construction with suitable all-in-one systems. fischer Building Materials India Private Limited Ward No. 76, Unit 101, First Level, No. 3 (Old 4 Prestige Sigma, Vittal Mallya Rd, Richmond Town, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001