iWorld
This Mother’s Day, Great Learning helps women reboot their career
New Delhi: In a bid to encourage mothers to re-start their careers and return to work, ed-tech company Great Learning has rolled out the second edition of the #HerFreshStart campaign, this Mother’s Day.
As a part of this initiative, the company will offer a scholarship of up to 50 per cent to selected mothers who can enroll in the choice of career-critical programs like data science, business analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, software engineering for data science, blockchain, IoT, management and digital marketing.
According to a report by KPMG, 58 per cent women feel less confident about returning to work post-pregnancy. The initiative aims to help such mothers on a career break by enabling them to regain confidence in their professional abilities through upskilling, said the company in a statement.
Great Learning is inviting people to nominate mothers in their circle to comment on their posts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with #HerFreshStart and tag Great Learning. The nominees can submit their form with a Statement of Purpose (SOP) with a brief introduction of their background and why they believe they deserve the scholarship. The nominations can be sent between 6 May and 10 May by visiting Great Learning’s social media channels – Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Mothers can also self-nominate themselves.
“As a working mother myself, I am well versed with the challenges and responsibilities of wearing two hats. While motherhood is a journey, so is one’s career. At Great Learning, one of our many endeavors is to enable new moms to take charge of their career and continue to achieve greater heights professionally,” said Great Learning chief marketing officer Aparna Mahesh. “Through this campaign, we aim to do just that by providing an opportunity for mothers to resume their career by helping them hone their skills. Upskilling will enable mothers who are looking at re-starting their career as opportunities continue to open up in various fields.”
The first edition of the #HerFreshStart campaign was launched last year amidst the onset of the pandemic and received applications from over 200 mothers out of which five mothers were provided scholarships.
iWorld
Applause Entertainment partners with Story TV for premium microdramas
Collaboration to produce and adapt content for mobile-first audiences starting 2026.
MUMBAI: Applause Entertainment just shrunk the drama screen because when stories fit in your pocket, even the biggest plots feel like a quick binge. Applause Entertainment, the Aditya Birla Group-backed content powerhouse behind hits like Black Warrant, The Hunt, Criminal Justice and Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, has entered an exclusive partnership with Story TV, India’s leading microdrama platform, to create a slate of premium short-form series for mobile-first viewers.
Under the agreement, the two companies will co-produce new-age microdramas across multiple genres. Story TV will also acquire rights to Applause’s romantic-thriller series Hello Mini and adapt it into a vertical microdrama format.
Story TV, which launched in July 2025, has quickly become a dominant player in the microdrama space with a library exceeding 1000 titles in romance, thriller, action and family drama across Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. The platform ranks as the second most downloaded entertainment app worldwide, according to Sensor Tower data.
Story TV founder and CEO Saurabh Pandey said, “As an early entrant into microdramas in India we are at the forefront of blending storytelling and technology to expand this emerging format into mainstream territory. Our partnership with Applause Entertainment will further expand the audience of microdramas with a focus on premium storytelling that is yet to be seen in the Indian entertainment industry.”
Applause Entertainment chief business officer Prasoon Garg added, “At Applause, our focus has always been on building strong stories across formats. As newer storytelling formats like microdramas gain momentum, we see value in engaging with them through meaningful collaborations. Our unique partnership with Story TV enables us to explore this emerging space alongside a platform that has demonstrated strong understanding of the format and its audiences.”
The tie-up positions both companies to capitalise on the rapid rise of bite-sized, vertical content tailored for smartphone consumption, where attention spans are short and global reach is instant.
In a screen-sized world where stories now race against the scroll, Applause and Story TV aren’t just making microdramas, they’re proving that the smallest screen can still deliver the biggest emotional punch, one vertical episode at a time.
