More than 30,000 women have gained valuable tech skills through GUVI, an IIT Madras-incubated startup, as part of their ‘AI-for-Women’ campaign. The program, which offers free access to a course in Artificial Intelligence (AI), aims to mobilize women and enable them to participate in a virtual event where they will be trained to build an AI app using Machine Learning (ML) models. Successful completion of the event will result in certificates being awarded to those who demonstrate their AI skills.
The ‘AI-for-Women’ campaign was inaugurated by Thiru. Mahesh Kumar, Deputy Mayor of Chennai, during International Women’s Week in March 2023. In addition to the ‘AI-for-Women’ initiative, GUVI’s SriGeeks Initiative has launched eight virtual and in-real-life events to provide free upskilling and career opportunities for women. These events include Tech-talks with successful women entrepreneurs, distribution of tech skill resources to economically challenged women, and the #Sheisback program, which is designed to help women who have taken a career break return to the workforce.
The #Sheisback program offers comprehensive tech training, placement support, extensive career guidance, and skill certifications in trending tech career domains like Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Front end development with Angular, and Frontend Development with ReactJs. Paid internships are also a part of the program.
GUVI, India’s first vernacular EdTech, is a part of HCL Group and has brand partnerships and collaborations with eminent partners such as ‘Google for Education,’ IITM Pravartak, AICTE, AWS, and Google Cloud. GUVI offers self-paced courses and career programs that are accredited by renowned institutions like IIT Madras, UiPath, and NASSCOM.
GUVI’s ‘AI-for-Women’ initiative is based on the successful precedent of ‘AI-for-India,’ which attracted a large volume of responses from aspirants, especially from remote areas who found tech skills accessible and understandable. GUVI created the Guinness World Record for the ‘Most number of users to take a programming lesson in 24 Hours’ with the ‘AI-for-India’ virtual event, beating the previous record by 50 times.
