To celebrate 25 years of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the Indian Chamber of Commerce-Ladies Study Group (LSG) and INWEC (ICC National Women’s Entrepreneurship Committee) collaborated to conduct Women Leaders’ Forum– an event to discuss business opportunities for collaboration among women entrepreneurs from six member countries recently at Hyatt Regency Kolkata. The session was divided into three segments that made for engaging discussions by women leaders and entrepreneurs coming from diverse fields. The event also allowed women from various countries to network, share their individual journeys and connect with each other to identify business opportunities in the overseas market.
The first session, ‘Women in Business– Passion to Perseverance’, was moderated by Julie Banerjee Mehta, professor at Loreto College, with fashion designer Kiran Uttam Ghosh and whole-time director of Emami Group, Priti Sureka, as speakers. Both of them discussed the obstacles they had to face to become successful entrepreneurs. They shared their stories of following their passions despite the obstacles, challenges and social stigmas. Priti Sureka shared her journey of fighting conservative mindsets and spoke about her husband who supported her entrepreneurship dreams. Kiran spoke about the challenges she had to face with regard to the stereotypical perspective society has towards female designers and the criticism and challenges she had to face for not pursuing mainstream education.
The next session, ‘Successful Women Leaders’ Talk’, was about how leading women entrepreneurs have established themselves in the Indian business scenario by proving people wrong about the conventional idea of entrepreneurship being a ‘boy’s club’. The session was moderated by Rupali Basu, managing director and CEO of Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital, with Ahana Gautam, CEO and co-founder of Open Secret; Swati Sarawagi, director of Swarnim International School; Mandira Chhetri, CEO and founder of O2 Himalaya; Monica Bahl, CEO of Beauty and Wellness Sector Skill Council and Sofia Firdous, director of Metro Group, as speakers. These businesswomen, during the discussion, shed light on the transformative changes they have brought to the Indian business sector and further discussed their sources of inspiration and the valuable lessons they have learned throughout their remarkable journeys.
The panel discussion, attended by entrepreneurs, professionals, and aspiring business leaders, aimed to highlight the pivotal role of women in shaping India’s corporate landscape. Each of the accomplished businesswomen presented her unique story, offering valuable insights into their path to success and the motivation behind their entrepreneurial endeavours. They emphasized the values of perseverance and resilience in the face of adversity. They covered a wide range of topics including leadership, innovation, risk-taking, and the significance of embracing failure as a stepping stone to success. They highlighted their contributions to fostering inclusive work environments, breaking down gender barriers, and championing diversity and equality within their organisations. Their collective wisdom provided valuable insights into navigating the ever-evolving business landscape for aspiring women. “If I speak about India, then the landscape for female entrepreneurs has changed a lot in the past decade. Lots of initiatives, policies and incentives are rolled out for women so that women can become entrepreneurs. A lot of incentives have been rolled out for startups so that women can start a business. But because we still have a lot of the population unemployed, it will take a lot of time to achieve that parity in gender to achieve equality. But we are sure with the current trajectory of the growth, we can soon reach there,” said Sofia Firdous, director of Metro Group.
‘Collaboration of Women Entrepreneurs Across Border’ was the last session that discussed how women entrepreneurs can collaborate with the market for buying goods legally and make full utilisation of the provided resources. The panellists also discussed how all the illegal trade of goods and resources through the black market can be stopped. This session was moderated by Tanaya Patnaik, convener of INWEC and CEO of Sambad Group, with Selima Ahmad from Bangladesh, MP and the president of BWCCI; Chhaya Sharma from Nepal, the chairperson of Women’s Leadership Forum-Confederation of Nepalese Industries; Pushpa Chhetri from Bhutan, founder/director of Bodhi Media & Communications Institute; Gayani de Alwis from Sri Lanka, the FCILT WiLAT global chairperson; Daw Khin Thet Maw from Myanmar, the vice president of Myanmar Women Entrepreneurs’ Association and Kamala Shrestha from Nepal, the executive committee member of FNCCI and chairperson of Women Entrepreneurs Development Committee of FNCCI.
India, the largest economy in the BIMSTEC group, ranked fourth out of 51 countries in terms of a conducive environment for entrepreneurship, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s (GEM) National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI) report. Despite this favourable ranking, however, only 18 per cent of startups in India are led by women, and women account for just 20.3 per cent of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country. In contrast, Thailand demonstrates a higher rate of female entrepreneurship compared to male entrepreneurship. Although the countries exhibit varying degrees of progress, the common challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the BIMSTEC region remain consistent, including limited access to capital, societal constraints, lack of awareness, and time and skill constraints. The panel, by addressing these challenges, shared their belief that fostering women’s economic empowerment will contribute to greater overall prosperity in the region.“Once we get together with various women leaders, especially across cultures, we get exposed to the best practices that are employed by their businesses. That can be a major inspiration. The conventional challenges of access to finance and market linkage are there but confidence-building needs to be done. I think it’s a great way to meet other women, see what other women are doing and get inspired and have some kind of mentorship opportunity also. A lot of times we have ideas, we probably have the funds in place, but we do not know where to start or who to collaborate with. And this is the age of collaborations. So it is a great place to meet like-minded people, learn from their stories, collaborate with them and also discover opportunities,” said Tanaya Patnaik, convener of INWEC and CEO of Sambad Group.