Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, the global initiative supporting women entrepreneurs with business education, mentoring and access to capital, has opened its newest India cohort, with the programme due to begin this September following an application and interview process that ran through August 2026.
The fully funded executive education programme is aimed at established women entrepreneurs seeking to strengthen their business skills, develop growth strategies and build professional networks, and is delivered in India through partnerships with three of the country's leading management institutions: the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and IIM Lucknow.
Launched globally in 2008, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women has reached more than 320,000 women entrepreneurs across more than 150 countries. In India specifically, the programme has supported more than 3,800 women-led businesses since its launch, according to figures published by IIM Bangalore's NSRCEL, one of the programme's academic delivery partners.
The programme combines formal management education, expert mentorship and structured peer networking, with a curriculum built around financial management, marketing, negotiation and leadership, taught by faculty from the partner IIMs with an emphasis on fostering innovation and operational excellence. According to Goldman Sachs, participants have reported significant improvements in their businesses following graduation: on average, within 18 months, participants report a fourfold increase in revenue, a doubling of their workforce, and a fivefold improvement in productivity.
The most recent completed India cohort — Cohort 11, delivered through IIM Bangalore's NSRCEL — brought together 72 ventures from 14 states across India, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana, Telangana, Kerala and Rajasthan, reflecting the programme's reach well beyond India's major metropolitan startup hubs and into a broader base of established, growth-stage women-led businesses across the country.
On completing the programme, participants join an alumni community of more than 4,100 women entrepreneurs in India, as well as the wider global 10,000 Women network. For women entrepreneurs unable to attend the residential programme, Goldman Sachs also offers a free online curriculum through Coursera, providing a more flexible route to the same core business education content.
The initiative's continued expansion in India — including the addition of new academic partners in recent cohorts — reflects sustained institutional investment in closing India's persistent gender gap in entrepreneurship and access to growth capital, an issue that continues to draw attention from both corporate philanthropic initiatives and dedicated venture capital funds targeting women-led businesses.
For India's broader entrepreneurial ecosystem, programmes like 10,000 Women serve a distinct function from venture funding: rather than providing capital directly, they aim to strengthen the underlying management and strategic capabilities of already-established women-led businesses, positioning graduates to more effectively raise capital, scale operations and create employment in their own right.
Applications for future cohorts are expected to open again next year, with interested entrepreneurs able to begin the process by completing Goldman Sachs' Expression of Interest form; in the meantime, the current cohort's 18-month post-programme outcomes will offer the next data point on the initiative's continued impact within India's women-led business community.
