Smriti Irani, founder of the Alliance for Global Good – Gender Equity and Equality, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the British Council to empower women entrepreneurs through skill development opportunities. The new initiative will be part of the Spark 100K Collective, which the former Union Minister launched in 2025 to empower womenpreneurs with funds, freedom, and the capacity to scale. As part of the partnership, the UK-based international organisation for cultural relations will be imparting English-language and digital communication skills to Indian women involved in entrepreneurship.
British Council Signs MoU to Empower Women Entrepreneurs
While India’s entrepreneurship space has witnessed a massive uptick over the last two decades, it still suffers from a significant gender gap. Launching the Spark 100K Collective, Irani had highlighted that the nation has 1.66 crore women-owned MSMEs and 10 crore women engaged in SHGs; however, women-led enterprises very often find themselves in a limbo. Calling it the “missing middle,” the former Union Minister had said that these ventures remain “excluded from the formal systems of finance, markets, and governance.”
Bridging that gap was the reason for founding Spark 100K Collective as a flagship initiative under the Alliance for Global Good – Gender Equity and Equality, to serve 1,00,000 women in 300 cities across the country with funds, freedom, and the capacity to scale.
Smriti Irani and members of the British Council
On Tuesday, Irani’s Women’s Collective Forum and the Alliance for Global Good – Gender Equity and Equality signed an MoU with the British Council. The partnership is focused on upskilling via the UK-based cultural and educational organisation. British Council, making the announcement, said that it will contribute its expertise in English language and communication skills to help women entrepreneurs build confidence, strengthen business capabilities, and access wider networks and markets.
Speaking on the occasion, Irani said, “The Alliance for Global Good – Gender Equity and Equality was founded on the belief that advancing gender equity requires strong collaboration across institutions and sectors. Women entrepreneurs across India are already demonstrating extraordinary leadership and resilience. By strengthening access to skills, resources, and supportive networks, initiatives such as this can help women scale their ambitions into sustainable enterprises and participate more fully in shaping India’s economic future.”
Susan Acland-Hood, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education, UK, says, “It was really exciting to hear from the women who’ve started what I think will be an enormously exciting initiative to grow entrepreneurs and to support them by bringing the opportunity to learn English. We know that language and communication of all kinds can unlock opportunity, can give people access to markets, can help people to communicate, challenge and change. I’m very excited about anything that increases that opportunity, particularly for women across India, but actually, I think there are lessons here for women across the world.”
Lindy Cameron, British High Commissioner to India, said, “I’m really proud to have been at an event where the British Council was signing an MoU to support SPARK which is a phenomenal program that helps to give female entrepreneurs and particularly women who want to grow their businesses, the kind of English language skills that allow them to grow their businesses and be a bigger part of the global supply chain. It was so inspiring to hear the work that is being done and the potential for even more women to participate in that, and to meet some of the women who are already part of the programme. I was really grateful that Smriti Irani, who was here helping to kick off the program with all of the work she and her colleagues have done to get us so far.”
Apart from the latest development, the womenpreneur initiative also has several key initiatives. Spark Kaushal focuses on bringing industry-relevant skills, such as digital literacy and vocational skills. Spark MBA, a business accelerator, invites cohorts and places them in CSR and government skilling missions. Spark X is a leadership development programme for seasoned entrepreneurs, while Spark Mitra is aimed at providing mentorship to women new to entrepreneurship.
Additionally, Spark Nidhi is a financial instrument that provides women entrepreneurs with micro-credit and growth capital, while Spark Bazaar provides access to domestic and global marketplaces across both digital and physical fronts.
