Facebook to extend ‘Boost Your Business’ programme

CHANDIGARH: Having witnessed over six-fold increase in women-led small and medium businesses (SMB) pages on Facebook in the past four years, social networking site Facebook is looking to scale up extending “Boost Your Business” programme in tier-II and tier-III cities in India to help entrepreneurs, especially women, in improving their business prospects.

“We provide a platform to these SMEs for exploring various dimensions by optimum utilisation of social media. It helps small businesses in connecting them with new customers and expanding their horizon in this competitive world” Ritesh Mehta, head of economic growth initiatives, facebook India

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 26

Having witnessed over six-fold increase in women-led small and medium businesses (SMB) pages on Facebook in the past four years, social networking site Facebook is looking to scale up extending “Boost Your Business” programme in tier-II and tier-III cities in India to help entrepreneurs, especially women, in improving their business prospects.

The programme is aimed at training, networking opportunities and online resources to help entrepreneurs connect and grow their business online.

There are over two million active SMBs who have pages on Facebook.

“Our programme is an initiative to enhance the knowledge, skills and technology of different women entrepreneurs who are running SMEs from different cities. We have covered six cities namely Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Pune and Chandigarh. By the year-end, we plan to take the programme to seven more small cities,” said Ritesh Mehta, Head of Economic Growth Initiatives, Facebook India.

He said the SMEs are the growth engine of the Indian economy and “we are acting as a bridge to the new mobile economy for SMEs and women entrepreneurs to have a huge role to play in advancing this growth.” The programme helps women entrepreneurs to gain expertise in various fields that can benefit them in running their businesses and increasing their profit. Its main objective is to help women, so that they can build a successful social brand and utilise their technical resources efficiently.

India is the second biggest country on Facebook globally, with 148 million monthly active people on Facebook in India.