• The MoU was signed and exchanged in the presence of Shri. Basavaraj Bommai, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka.
• The collaboration is part of Amazon’s commitment to digitally enable 10 million MSMEs by 2025

Bangalore, February 5, 2022: Amazon India today announced that it has signed an MoU with Karnataka State Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (KSRLPS) to support the growth of women entrepreneurs across the state. The MoU was signed and exchanged in the presence of Shri. Basavaraj Bommai, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka and Shri CN Ashwath Narayan, Hon’ble Minister of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood, Government of Karnataka. Through this association, Amazon India will launch Sanjeevini-KSRLPS on its marketplace and also extend the benefits of the ‘Saheli’ program to train and empower thousands of women entrepreneurs from the state of Karnataka to come online and access a wider market for their products. This association will help bring in regional selection and unique products from categories like grocery, home and fashion accessories made by over 30,000 women entrepreneurs and self-help groups (SHGs) associated with Sanjeevini-KSRLPS online and make them available to millions of Amazon customers across the country.

Amazon’s Saheli program offers extensive training and skill development workshops for its partners to help women entrepreneurs associated with them understand the nuances of online selling and develop skills & capabilities necessary to grow their business on Amazon.in. These training workshops comprise sessions on the listing of products, imaging & cataloguing, packaging & shipping, inventory & account management, and customer servicing and offer other attractive benefits to sellers in the Saheli program including assisted onboarding and mentorship programs at no additional cost.

Shri CN Ashwath Narayan, Hon’ble Minister of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood, Government of Karnataka said, “One of the key priorities of our Government is to establish a flourishing ecosystem for women entrepreneurs of Karnataka, especially from rural areas and I would like to commend Amazon for their efforts and initiatives in this area. Our association with Amazon will give wings to the dreams of women entrepreneurs from Karnataka and support our capacity building initiatives for women entrepreneurs.”

Sumit Sahay, Director, Selling Partner Services, Amazon India said, “This association with the Karnataka Govt is aligned with our commitment to digitally enable 10 million MSMEs by 2025. We will work with KSRLPS to bring the benefits of e-commerce to thousands of women entrepreneurs and SHGs across the state and help them kickstart their journey as digital entrepreneurs.  We are confident that access to a comprehensive suite of services and support from our Saheli program will help these entrepreneurs realise their true potential.”

Launched in 2017, Amazon Saheli is a program that enables women entrepreneurs to become successful sellers on Amazon.in. Today, Amazon Saheli works with over 60 partners such as National Urban Livelihood Mission, Sewa, Read India etc. with a reach of 10,00,000 women entrepreneurs. Currently, the Saheli program includes women entrepreneurs like women small business owners, housewives, domestic helpers, artisans etc. and the Amazon Saheli program offers over 1 lakh+ women made products across multiple categories such as apparel, jewellery, groceries, home décor, beauty, books etc.

About KSRLPS

Karnataka State Rural Livelihood Mission (KSRLM), registered under The Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960, is an autonomous implementing agency of National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). KSRLM aims at eradication of rural poverty by building sustainable institutions of poor and ultimately leading them to sustainable livelihoods. KSRLPS aims to put in place a dedicated and sensitive support structure from the national level to the sub-district level which will focus on the poor, build and sustain their organizations at different levels. This will provide the poor a platform for collective action based on self-help and mutual cooperation, build linkages with mainstream institutions, including banks, and Government departments to address the various dimensions of poverty. Further KSRLPS is entrusted with implementation of all livelihood, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship related programmes and projects of both Government of India and Government of Karnataka.  It is currently part of the newly created Department of the State Government i.e. Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood Department.

About Amazon.in

The Amazon.in marketplace is operated by Amazon Seller Services Private Ltd, an affiliate of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Amazon.in seeks to build the most customer-centric online destination for customers to find and discover virtually anything they want to buy online by giving them more of what they want – vast selection, low prices, fast and reliable delivery, and a trusted and convenient experience; and provide sellers with a world-class e-commerce marketplace.

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