India, 30 November 2022: Hunar Online Courses, a SkillTech online learning platform that empowers women by helping them learn new skills in fashion, food, photography, and interior design, and become financially independent, today announced it has joined hands with the actress and entrepreneur Shilpa Shetty Kundra as its investor and brand ambassador.
Through this partnership, Hunar aims to cement and scale the four pillars of its platform – offering a holistic and outcome-focused learning experience, leveraging and building its vast community, providing gigs and work-from-home opportunities, and creating business opportunities for its students.
Hunar has recognised the massive potential of this underserved market of more than 340 million Indian women. It intends that this collaboration will enable one lakh Indian women, to achieve financial independence by next year through better skilling and entrepreneurship opportunities. Since its inception in 2018, it has been uniquely positioned and supported by a loyal community of 20 lakh+ women to become the singular authority on skilling and empowering Indian women, helping them become micropreneurs / solopreneurs.
Hunar’s community consists of women who harbour similar desires and challenges. Through this platform, they are presented with opportunities that help them come together to engage, learn, share and support each other.
Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Bollywood Actress, Health and Wellness Influencer, and Entrepreneur, said, “Empowering the women of India with skills to become financially independent has always been a dream for me. As an independent woman, I believe that financial independence and having a personal source of income are important for the woman, her family, and the country. When I attended the Hunar Fashion Show as a Chief Guest, I saw first-hand the impact that Hunar’s team was creating, and I wanted to join them as an investor and a brand ambassador.”
Nishtha Yogesh, Founder and CEO of Hunar Online Courses, said, “India has the potential to grow its GDP exponentially when India’s women are provided with the right platform to learn, grow, and earn an income. Women want to be financially independent and recognised for their skills but do not have easy access to opportunities to learn or earn. Our goal has always been to offer a safe and encouraging ecosystem wherein Indian women can learn multiple skills from home, create their designs or products and gain recognition and financial independence. We are excited to have Shilpa join our journey. She is a strong supporter of our mission, and together we hope to encourage more and more women to bring out the entrepreneurs in them.”
Through its wide array of courses in Fashion, Food, Beauty and Photography, Hunar aims to enable and empower these women by lending them the required support at every stage of their journey through expert faculty, dedicated student guides, entrepreneurship mentors and access to a vast community of like-minded women. Additionally, Hunar’s students get ample exposure and guidance through celebrity mentors like the four-time national award-winning fashion designer Neeta Lulla and acclaimed photographer Avinash Gowariker so that the students get to learn from the best.
Earlier, Hunar joined hands with national brands like ITC Aashirvaad Atta and Naturals Salon to empower women. Recently, it held its annual fashion show, for which it received 10,000 design submissions, 200+ students were selected to display their collections in front of more than 15,000 audiences, and more than one million votes were received from all over India. Also, it hosted India’s largest online graduation ceremony in India, where over 6,000 women received their certificates and gained national recognition in one day.
Students of Hunar Online Courses have access to 55+ video-based online skill courses in the fashion, food, and beauty segments. These basic-to-advance courses are pre-recorded classes with live virtual masterclasses and webinars by certified teachers and industry experts. Hunar Online Courses has a growing community of more than 20 lakh women and over 45,000 students, out of which 30 per cent are running their enterprises successfully, earning up to INR 50,000 every month.
