My Dream for an Inclusive India

From personal empowerment to national transformation, the journey of ICECD validates that grassroots entrepreneurship can shape a Viksit Bharat by 2047

- Dr Hina Shah Founder-CEO, International Centre for Entrepreneurship & Career Development (ICECD)

A self-reliant India is not a new ideology. From the Five-Year Plans to policies supporting agriculture and industries, the vision of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' has always been present. As a young entrepreneur in the 1980s, I lived this vision—navigating societal resistance and environmental hurdles, determined to prove that a woman could succeed in business.

Under the license raj, India's protected economy gave small entrepreneurs like me room to grow. I saw countless women in villages and slums still trapped in poverty. That realisation deepened my purpose: if entrepreneurship changed my life, why not theirs?

An Inclusive Ecosystem