MAM
Visa grants $10,000 to women-led businesses in She’s Next Program
Mumbai: Visa, the global leader in digital payments, today announced the grant recipients of the She’s Next Grant Program in India. She’s Next is a global advocacy program by Visa that aims to empower women-led small businesses across segments, with insights and tools such as networking, mentoring, and funding opportunities. Visa has awarded a grant of US$10,000 to each of the three winning businesses owned and led by women. It also partnered with Razorpay Rize, an exclusive community for founders, to provide all grant recipients with complimentary access to the invite-only Razorpay Rize incubator program, including a range of benefits like mentorship, assistance with incorporation and fundraising, and networking opportunities with fellow founders.
The program received over 700 applications spanning across sectors, including agriculture, specialised education for children, elderly care, homestays, law, literature, travel, handicrafts, and support for local artisans, reflecting the diversity of women-led entrepreneurship in India. The recipients of this year’s She’s Next grants program are:
1. Suchita Bhandari, Urvara Krsi, Gurugram, Haryana
2. Nidhi Chawla, Silver Talkies (Active Age India Pvt. Ltd.), Bangalore
3. Elizabeth Thomas, Phonologix Health Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Kerala
Visa group country manager, India and South Asia Sandeep Ghosh said, “Visa is committed to fostering financial and social inclusion by investing in small enterprises, which are pivotal to economic growth. Women-led businesses like Urvara Krsi, Silver Talkies and Phonologix, enthuse us with their profound community impact, and we are honoured to extend this grant to these very inspiring women entrepreneurs. The She’s Next Grant Program in India is a key initiative for Visa in its ongoing focus on galvanizing female entrepreneurship and promoting inclusion across the country.”
The recipients were chosen through a meticulous review process, including their background stories, societal challenges they aim to address and the potential for future growth in their respective business models. Each of the three grant recipients, chosen from a pool of over 700 applicants, presented a compelling vision for how Visa’s grant would contribute to the expansion and advancement of their businesses and empower more women. They also outlined plans for supporting local communities and the broader Indian economy through their businesses.
Visa continues empowering small and medium businesses through opportunities like the She’s Next Grant Program providing women-led businesses with the vital tools, resources, and financial support that enable them to thrive. Concurrently, Razorpay Rize, an embodiment of entrepreneurial support, offers a comprehensive program that addresses the challenges faced by founders during the early stages of business growth. With a focus on mentorship, incorporation, and fundraising activities, Razorpay Rize seeks to build a community of like-minded founders in India’s thriving startup ecosystem, demonstrating the company’s dedication to empowering entrepreneurs and contributing to the growth of the startup community. Visa’s She’s Next Program aligns with Razorpay’s mission of investing in the country’s talent pool and fostering innovation.
In recent years, Visa has undertaken such initiatives for women-led businesses across India. In 2020, its grants program in partnership with global partner IFundWomen facilitated women entrepreneurs with access to funding and mentorship opportunities. In 2021, Visa collaborated with the NASSCOM Foundation to enhance digital and financial literacy among over 650 women micro-entrepreneurs in rural areas. Most recently, Visa committed US$ one million to United Way Mumbai (UWM) to uplift women-owned and women-focused businesses across more than 240 villages in four states. The program has already provided financial literacy education and financial linkages to over 8,500 women.
Globally, Visa has invested over US$3.83 million in over 380 grants and coaching for women small and medium business owners through the She’s Next Grants Program since 2020. By equipping women micro-entrepreneurs with vital skills and facilitating access to relevant financial resources, Visa aims to empower both individual enterprises and the communities they serve.
MUMBAI: In India’s fast-moving payments race, Visa has just swiped in a new leader. The company has named Suresh Sethi as its India country head, marking a key leadership shift as it sharpens its focus on digital payments growth in the market. Sethi steps into the role following his recent exit from Protean eGov Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer. He succeeds Sandeep Ghosh, who has moved on after more than four years at Visa to pursue an external opportunity.
The appointment comes at a time when Visa is doubling down on its expansion strategy across India and the wider region, deepening partnerships and accelerating adoption in an increasingly competitive digital payments ecosystem.
Sethi brings with him a broad, cross-market perspective shaped by decades of experience across corporate banking, retail financial services, mobile money and large-scale government technology initiatives. He began his career at Citigroup, where he spent 14 years working across India, Africa, South America and the United States, focusing on transaction banking services within the corporate bank.
His appointment signals a blend of institutional experience and market familiarity qualities that could prove critical as Visa navigates a landscape where fintech innovation, regulatory evolution and consumer adoption are all accelerating at once.
As digital payments in India continue to scale rapidly, the leadership change underscores a simple reality, in a market where every tap, scan and swipe counts, who leads the charge can matter just as much as the technology itself.
