Delhi, Bengaluru among top global cities for women entrepreneurs

Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai are featured among the top 50 global cities for women entrepreneurs, indicating these cities provide a beneficial business environment for women entrepreneurs, reveals a Dell Technologies study. 

Mumbai is a new entrant to this list and Bengaluru is one of the top 10 cities in the world, which provides accessibility and inclusive policies.

The report, 2023 Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) Index,  by Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN), ranks 55 global cities based on their ability to attract and foster high-potential women entrepreneurs (HPWE) who want to start and drive  businesses. This year’s index has 90 indicators across two categories and five pillars including an equality sub-pillar.

DWEN is a global network by Dell Technologies to advance and support women entrepreneurs.

“The WE Cities report not only illustrates the rise of women entrepreneurs in India but also addresses the gaps in access to resources and opportunities to truly unleash their full potential. The pandemic has tightened the correlation between talent and technology. 

According to the study, women entrepreneurs view technology skills as vital but compete with understanding to be able to navigate through the digital age. The report establishes technology's inclusive role to connect all aspects of business,” said Swati Mishra, Director, and GM, Small Businesses, Dell Technologies, India.

Delhi has the highest momentum score compared to 2017, the base year. Momentum score provides insights into how a city is progressing compared to its history, and that of others. Factors such as growing population, low cost of living, and availability of skilled workforce have resulted in significant improvement for Delhi’s score. 

Delhi also benefits from a skilled workforce, ranking sixth in the share of the population with tertiary education. The talent pool available across genders also adds to the potential for future growth. Delhi has the vision to become a “startup destination for the world” by 2030 with its recent Delhi Startup policy.

Some potential areas of improvement include increasing the labour force participation rate among women which stands at 16.1 percent and is significantly lower than many global cities.

Without greater representation in the workforce, the barriers for women in Delhi seeking to start and scale a business will remain high, the finding said. 

Delhi’s first-place ranking overall and in terms of momentum respectively highlight the importance of developing the talent pool and ability to leverage access to a qualified workforce.

Bengaluru is ranked fifth in the top 10 operating environments list. This is the first time Bengaluru has appeared on this list, ahead of Paris and Washington DC, and other cities. Bengaluru provides market size, cost, access, and policies that can benefit and accelerate the growth of women entrepreneurs.

Bengaluru has a momentum score of 58.5 and falls under the “Cities on the radar” category of progress. This category is a list of 13 up-and-coming cities that have the potential to host some of the cities’ women entrepreneurs. Delhi is also a part of this list.

Along with Montpellier, Auckland, Wellington, and Hamburg, Mumbai has also been inducted into the WE Cities Index.

APAC dominates this year’s momentum scores while leading in technology

Of the 55 cities, 12 cities in the WE Cities Index are from the Asia Pacific region. These include Sydney (Rank 9), Melbourne (Rank 12), and Singapore (Rank 22) among others.

Sydney is a newcomer to the list of top 10 cities and ranks in the top 10 for talent, capital, and culture.

Beijing along with Copenhagen is a leader in tech scores, making these cities a tech hub for women-led businesses