Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Opens Applications for India's Next Cohort of Women Entrepreneurs

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women has opened applications for its next cohort of established women entrepreneurs in India, offering a fully funded executive education programme designed to strengthen business skills, develop growth strategy and build professional networks. The application window remains open through August, with interviews and final decisions expected during the same month and the new cohort scheduled to begin in September, according to the programme's India partners.

The programme's continued popularity also speaks to a broader appetite among established women entrepreneurs for structured, credential-bearing business education delivered in partnership with recognised institutions.

Launched globally in 2008, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women has grown into one of the more established international initiatives supporting women entrepreneurs, having reached more than 320,000 women across over 150 countries through practical business education, mentoring and access to a worldwide community of business leaders. In India, the programme is delivered through a partnership with three of the country's leading management institutions — the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and IIM Lucknow — giving participants access to academic rigor alongside practical, growth-oriented business training.

Programme organisers also note that demand for the India cohort has grown consistently each year since the programme's local launch, reflecting both rising awareness of the initiative among India's women-entrepreneur community and growing evidence of its impact on participating businesses' subsequent growth trajectories. This sustained demand has prompted discussions among partner institutions about potential future expansion of cohort size or programme frequency, though no formal announcements regarding structural changes to the India programme have yet been made public.

The India-focused programme is specifically aimed at women entrepreneurs who have already established their businesses and are seeking to scale operations, offering more than 100 hours of learning through an intensive three-month executive education curriculum. Rather than serving as an introductory entrepreneurship course, the programme is structured for founders who have moved past the earliest stages of business formation and are grappling with the operational, financial and strategic complexities of growth — a segment that often has fewer tailored educational resources available relative to early-stage founders.

The programme's structure — combining rigorous academic content from top-tier Indian business schools with a globally connected alumni network — has made it a particularly sought-after credential among established women entrepreneurs seeking to formalise and scale operations that may have grown organically without the benefit of formal management training. Several alumni of the India cohort have gone on to attract institutional venture or private equity investment following their participation, a pattern programme organisers point to as evidence that structured business education can meaningfully improve women-led businesses' readiness for external capital, beyond the direct skills covered in the curriculum itself.

Programme alumni interviewed by regional media have frequently credited the initiative's peer-learning component — structured interaction with fellow participants facing similar scaling challenges — as being nearly as valuable as the formal academic curriculum delivered by faculty at the partner institutions.

The programme's fee-free structure, funded entirely through Goldman Sachs' philanthropic commitment to the initiative, remains a distinguishing feature relative to many comparable executive-education offerings in the Indian market, removing cost as a barrier for entrepreneurs who might otherwise be unable to access equivalent business training, a design choice programme organisers say has been central to broadening participation beyond entrepreneurs who already have access to capital or existing professional networks.

Programme data suggests meaningful impact for participants: on average, alumni have reported a fourfold increase in revenue, a doubling of their workforce and a fivefold improvement in productivity within eighteen months of completing the programme. On graduation, participants join an alumni community of more than 4,100 women entrepreneurs in India, part of the wider global network the initiative has built over nearly two decades — a network that programme organisers say continues to generate business referrals, partnerships and mentoring relationships well beyond the formal coursework.

The programme's continued relevance in 2026 reflects broader, persistent gaps in India's entrepreneurial support ecosystem for women who have moved beyond the earliest stages of business formation. While early-stage incubation and seed-funding support for women entrepreneurs has expanded considerably in recent years through both government schemes and private accelerator programmes, structured growth-stage education tailored specifically to women scaling established businesses remains comparatively scarce. Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women's continued partnership with three top-tier Indian management institutions ensures the programme maintains rigorous academic standards while remaining accessible to entrepreneurs who may not have had the opportunity to pursue formal management education earlier in their careers, a combination that programme alumni frequently cite as distinguishing it from other business-education offerings targeted at women founders in the Indian market.

From a broader diaspora and global-network perspective, the programme's alumni community also increasingly functions as an informal but influential referral and mentorship network extending well beyond India's borders, connecting participants with international business contacts and, in some cases, cross-border commercial opportunities. For India's growing base of globally ambitious women entrepreneurs, this network effect — built cumulatively over nearly two decades of the programme's operation in India — has become an increasingly cited reason for applying, alongside the formal curriculum itself, according to programme administrators tracking applicant motivations across recent cohorts.

As applications remain open for the upcoming cohort, the programme adds to a broader ecosystem of initiatives — spanning corporate, government and now increasingly fintech-driven programmes — aimed at addressing India's persistent gaps in support for women-led enterprises. For the entrepreneurs selected, the programme offers not only formal business education but access to a global network that has, for many alumni, proven to be as valuable as the curriculum itself.

As the application window for the current cohort progresses toward its September start date, the programme's continued expansion reflects sustained institutional confidence — from Goldman Sachs, its academic partners and the broader Indian business community — in structured executive education as a meaningful lever for women-led business growth. For India's entrepreneurship ecosystem more broadly, the programme's track record adds to a growing body of evidence that targeted, high-quality business education can measurably improve outcomes for women entrepreneurs navigating the transition from early-stage founder to established business leader.

Prospective applicants are advised that seats in each cohort remain limited relative to demand, with the programme's India partners noting that competitive selection has intensified as awareness of the initiative has grown nationally.