With its ambitious goal of training 10 million women in India generative AI capabilities, South Asian Women in Tech (SAWiT) has made great progress. SAWiT is expanding its reach in Hyderabad as part of this national initiative, with the goal of providing women in the area with the knowledge and skills necessary to support India’s economic and technical development.
Lately, SAWiT organized an eminent event in Hyderabad in partnership with T-Hub and the Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA), which represents a major step toward its goal of upskilling 500,000 women in the program’s first phase.
In order to debate how to empower women with cutting-edge AI capabilities, the event brought together influential figures from the tech sector. This laid the foundation for larger outreach across the nation, revealed its official release.
Distinguished Dignitaries: A Part of This Year’s Event
Distinguished dignitaries in attendance included Alexander McLaren (Public Affairs Officer, US Consulate, Hyderabad), Sita Pallacholla (CEO, WE Hub), Jit Putcha (HYSEA, Managing Committee & Diversity Forum Leader, LTIMindtree), Priya Gazdar (Chairperson, FICCI FLO), and Sri Vidya Reddy (Chairperson, CII IWN Telangana).
“Advancing Skilling and Support for Women in AI” was the title of a significant panel discussion that examined methods for closing the gender gap in AI. Furthermore, a workshop conducted by Google offered hands-on workshop on implementing Generative AI models and investigating actual applications.
According to a Nasscom report on India’s digital talent pool, Hyderabad ranks 4th with 13-14% of the nation’s digital talent. This underscores the city’s strategic importance in SAWiT’s nationwide initiative and highlights the critical role Hyderabad’s startup and corporate ecosystem will play in advancing AI skills among women, helping to close the gender gap in technology.
The Flagship ProgramÂ
The flagship program of SAWiT, SAWiT.AI, is being developed in partnership with GUVI and is scheduled to debut on September 21, 2024.
The program will take place in three stages: the SAWiT.AI Learnathon, SAWiT.AI Hackathon, and SAWiT.AI Festival.
It is supported by an esteemed advisory council that includes Roshni Nadar Malhotra (Chairperson, HCL Tech), Samantha Ruth Prabhu (actor and advocate for women’s empowerment), and Farzana Haque (Senior Leader, Tata Consultancy Services).
Pivotal MissionÂ
The goal of SAWiT is a component of a larger plan to increase women’s employment in order to harness India’s $550 billion economic potential.
The program which is based on Kalido’s AI-driven platform, gives women access to large-scale job placements, entrepreneurship, peer-to-peer learning, and work preparedness.
This program has the potential to propel India’s ambitions to become the global hub for AI, seize the $1.3 trillion GDP opportunity, and rise up the ranks of the economic complexity index, all while advancing individual careers.
