HYDERABAD: US President Donald Trump’s daughter and advisor to the White House Ivanka Trump played the perfect diplomat as well as a representative of women entrepreneurs at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit that got underway at the HICC here Tuesday.Delivering the keynote address, Ivanka, herself an entrepreneur, pitched for better access to resources and mentors for women entrepreneurs and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing him as an inspiration. “What you are achieving here is truly extraordinary. From your childhood selling tea to your election as Prime Minister, you’ve proved that transformational change is possible,” she said.
On her third official trip abroad, the model-turned-entrepreneur-turned-presidential advisor said closing the gender entrepreneurship gap could bump up global GDP by up to 2 per cent. “Indian economy can grow by over $150 billion in the next three years if it is able to close the labour force generation gap by half,” she noted.
The country’s $2.3 trillion economy is coursing through a pedestrian path and encouraging women entrepreneurship could indeed jumpstart growth. Speaking after Ivanka, Modi listed the reform push undertaken by his government and informed the packed audience that some 1,200 outdated laws were scrapped, 87 foreign investment rules were eased across 21 sectors, while several government processes were taken online. Sharing hard facts, Modi said if 90 million people were given loans under the Mudra scheme, roughly 70 million were women entrepreneurs.
The audience broke into applause when the PM elaborated on the contribution of women and said “this city Hyderabad is home to the champions of the world Sania Mirza, P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal. These women have made India proud. Here at the GES, more than 50 per cent are women.”