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Mumbai, April 21, 2022:  Women are driving Change and Enabling economic growth, not just worldwide but in India as well. A McKinsey Global Institute report finds that US$ 12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 by advancing women’s equality.

To celebrate these women and hear their insights on inclusive growth, Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee recently organised a virtual Conclave titled EnablHERS of Change on April 20, 2022.

The half-day event had many powerpacked knowledge sessions. Opening the conclave, Anjali Bansal, President, Bombay Chamber said, “The increasing presence of women in Indian business and as entrepreneurs has led to change in the demographic characteristics of economic growth in the country. Women-owned and driven enterprises are playing a prominent role in society, inspiring others and generating more employment opportunities. Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is critically important, and has been spotlighted as a Sustainable Development Goal by the United Nations. While there is an increase in the number of women in boardrooms, we have seen a decrease in the labour force participation rate amongst women. We believe that women should be in more roles that are critically important to the organisation.”

Meenakshi Priyam, Chairperson of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee at Bombay Chamber and CHRO, Udaan said, “The most important conversation that women must have is with themselves. A lot of it is about mindset and if you switch the mindset, you can unleash your potential. We have to be a protagonist in our own play.”

In her Keynote address, Vinita Bali, Independent Director & Strategy Advisor, opined, “We have to accept that the odds are still stacked against women, both at work and at home. Secondly, if we want to change the game, we women have to enter the arena and play the game. We cannot stay on the sidelines. We have to play a disproportionately high role in changing the future, in our country and around the world. What we have to focus on is to ask ourselves, what do we have to do to make things work better. Mere conversations without action to follow simply ends up frustrating the issue.”

The Conclave had an interesting Fireside Chat with Mahasweta Chakraborty the 24 year old pilot who evacuated 800 Indian students under Operation Ganga amid the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict. Chakraborty who calls her job life-in-a-suitcase said, “I did my duty. The students who were in the war zone area inspired me. We need to stop cribbing about small insignificant things in life. We need to think about the big picture. I always wanted to do something for my nation. Vande Bharat and Operation Ganga made me realise that you don’t need to wear a uniform to serve the nation.”

The Conclave had three panel discussions on Women and Financial Literacy, Women and Healthcare and Women and Entrepreneurship with many eminent industry leaders participating.

The panel on Financial Literacy included speakers like Jayshree Vyas, MD, Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank; Ananya Tripathi, CEO WhiteHat Jr-Byju; Pravin Jadhav, Founder & CEO, Raise Financial Services and Richa Roy, Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

The speakers for the panel on Healthcare included Swathi Kulkarni, Co-Founder & CEO, Elda Health;  Dr. Roshani Sanghani, Founder, Aasaan Health Solutions; Annaswamy Vaidheesh, Former Managing Director / VP:  South Asia, Glaxosmithkline Pharmaceutical and Vani Manja, Managing Director, Boehringer Ingelheim India.

The third panel on Entrepreneurship saw Neetu Yadav, Co-Founder & CEO, Animall Technologies; Dr. Praapti Jayaswal, Co-Founder & CEO, ArogyaAI; Bipin Preet Singh, Founder & CEO, MobiKwik; Ashish Dave, CEO, Mirae Asset Venture Investments (India).