Hyderabad: First women industrial estate gets incubator

Hyderabad: The Dr A.P.J. Green Industrial Park, the first industrial estate dedicated to women that was launched in Nandigama village, near Patancheru six months ago will soon be home to We-Hub, the largest incubator exclusively for female entrepreneurs.

The industrial estate, established on about 84 acres of land, has 220 plots with sizes ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 square yards. 

Officials, under the leadership of the Association of Lady Entrepreneurs of India (Aleap), are in the process of developing it and implementing non-polluting measures.

Mr A. Ajay Babu, project manager of industrial park, and Ms K. Rama Devi, president of Aleap, say that they are in the process of developing the largest start-up incubator for women.

“Prominent government and private organisations are coming forward and offering to assist young leaders through incubators. Our incubator will focus on innovation; we have already received orders from prominent companies like Aditya Birla. Female entrepreneurs from Afghanistan and the USA are also visiting the park with the intention of launching their start-ups here,” they say.

Mr Babu says that the industrial estate can accommodate about 225 entrepreneurs. “Once small- and medium-scale units begin operations in the park, about 12,000 job opportunities will be created for women. The park has three main features – it will house gre-en, non-polluting industries; it has a rooftop solar energy system that will cover 40 per cent of the industries’ needs; and it has a water recycling system. Besides this, every industry will have a stormwater storage facility,” he says.

Ms Rama Devi says that this is the first industrial park to implement eco-friendly measures and house non-polluting units. “The units in the park will be from sectors such as herbal products, food processing, paper and packaging, garments and textiles, engineering, pharma formulation, and warehousing. The entire park has LED streetlights and 40 percent of the park’s power needs will be fulfilled by solar energy. In the upcoming incubator, we will focus on innovation and unique products. We already have a few start-ups that are working on packaging with 3D design, plates made from sugarcane, the manufacture of electronic chips, and the construction of eco-friendly walls,” she says. She adds that We-Hub has already signed MOUs with SBI, Canara Bank, Syndicate Bank and Andhra Bank to provide loans to advanced-stage start-ups. “We will provide space, power, mentoring, marketing, and loan facilities to start-ups,” she says.