HYDERABAD: Living up to expectations, 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 on Tuesday.
Delivering the keynote address, Ivanka, herself an entrepreneur, pitched for better access to resources and mentors for women entrepreneurs and deftly 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 India’s Prime Minister, you’ve proved that transformational change is possible,” she said. She opined that 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 gender 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, Prime Minister Modi listed the slew of reforms undertaken by his government and informed the audience that some 1,200 outdated laws were scrapped, and 87 foreign investment rules were eased across 21 sectors, while several government processes were taken online.
“To my entrepreneur friends from across the globe, I would like to say, ‘Come, Make in India, Invest in India’, for India and for the world,” he appealed. Modi said if a total 90 million were given loans under the Mudra scheme, roughly 70 million were to women entrepreneurs. The audience broke into applause when the PM elaborated on the contribution of women and pointed out that “this very city Hyderabad is home to the champions of the world Sania Mirza, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal. These women have made India proud.’’