Today, more and more women with talent and desire are embarking on entrepreneurship. The task is not always easy, however, as the road to entrepreneurial success is fraught with pitfalls. Natacha Khoodaruth, a Mauritian entrepreneur, has therefore taken the initiative to help women who want to enter the world of entrepreneurship through the social enterprise Angels for Women.
The Angels for Women project
With 20 years of experience and lessons learned, Natacha Khoodaruth wants to help young women entrepreneurs. Having herself evolved in different sectors, and passionate about digitalization, she presents herself with an innovative project. Anges pour Elles is a social enterprise with a clear vision, mission and values.
- Vision: to contribute to development by building a strong community and developing the volunteer portfolio.
- Mission: to help women entrepreneurs develop their business and move forward with their project through a relationship of trust.
- Values: With Anges pour Elles, Natacha Khoodaruth also intends to instill values in women entrepreneurs such as promoting entrepreneurial culture, sustainability, evolving in a collaborative ecosystem, developing a philanthropic culture, and promoting innovation.
Women and entrepreneurship in Mauritius
In Mauritius, financing is the most common problem faced by women who want to start their own business. Indeed, women find it very difficult to launch their projects. In fact, less than 10% of entrepreneurs are women and according to a study by the National Women Entrepreneur Council (NWEC), 65% of them would use their own savings to start their business.
With this in mind, Natacha Khoodaruth created her social enterprise “Anges pour Elles”. The goal is to help these women find financing for their innovative projects that will undoubtedly contribute to the country’s economic development. Women are often underestimated when it comes to the world of entrepreneurship. Thanks to people like Natacha Khoodaruth, within a few years this gender inequality that exists in the entrepreneurial world may well decrease.
Mauritian banks offer various financing aids to women entrepreneurs. However, loan conditions are not always favourable to women taking their first steps in entrepreneurship. In addition to the high interest rates of Mauritian banks, there is also a lack of support for these entrepreneurial start-ups and difficulties regarding the various procedures to be followed.
How does Angels for Women work?
With the help of volunteers, Anges pour Elles wants to help these women achieve their goals. There are 3 categories:
- Fund the “angels” through a crowdfunding platform, and thus facilitate the financing.
- Cost optimization and creation of a business model through digitalization.
- Encourage, guide and accompany women entrepreneurs. In addition, develop the address book to contribute to the development of their businesses.
Anges pour Elles is fortunate to have the support of various institutions to help develop this social enterprise. The latter has the support of banks for the various financing, tertiary institutions such as the Charles Telfair Institute as “training partners”, various associations for the development and the blooming of women, without forgetting the ambassadors of “angels”.
By the end of the year, the social enterprise hopes to have about 30 ambassadors in its ranks. If you are inspired by the project, please contact Natacha Khoodaruth by email to join this initiative. Anges pour Elles also offers various sponsorship packages for companies.
