What does it take for female founders to scale up their businesses? What are the hurdles and opportunities faced within the Indian entrepreneurial environment? How can female entrepreneurs deal with self-doubt while building the future? The Rizing Equality Summit 2024 sought to explore these questions.
Bijal Ajinkya, Partner at Khaitan & Co, remarks that women are the fulcrum of wealth transition and the transition of leadership in an organization, if dealt with by a woman, may be much more likely to succeed. Ajinkya states that a woman looking to facilitate a transition of her own wealth may have self-doubt, which would lead to a situation, where there’s no closure, so she finds it interesting that women may be great at managing someone else’s transition, but not their own. It may be the case that women help someone else, they’re great at it, but when they have to help themselves, they don’t do it very often. Yet, women are said to be quite intuitive and know what they don’t know, so they would make sure to gather themselves around people who could help them navigate. Ajinkya, also, touches upon the period leave policy implemented by Khaitan & Co and the broader implications of this leave on the workforce at KCO.
Harneet Hariharan, Chairperson & Managing Director at Pace Setters Business Solutions, explores the role that spirituality plays in her life as an entrepreneur, how she went spiritual shopping after a time when there was a lot of hustle and bustle of work, how when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, she had to get people work-from-home-ready within 48 hours, how she’s put in 100% of her personal earnings in philanthropy and how there’s an imperative for educated people with a corporate background in the paradigm of spirituality, sustainability and social impact. Hariharan, also, opines that one must look beyond labels and that women must remember they’re at a certain place to do a certain job, which is the energy they ought to exude; only then would the other folks know that a person means business.
Rathna Mala L V, Senior Vice President & Zonal Head, Corporate and Institutional Banking at Federal Bank, explores the 41% proportion of women at Federal Bank, how the bank encourages meritocracy, how opportunities are given to the people and how it’s up to them to grab onto what presents itself, how more women taking opportunities leads to role models being built, how it’s not just about bank schemes for women entrepreneurs, but how a good proportion of a female workforce at a bank can connect better with female entrepreneurs and prepare them for challenges. She, also, remarks that if it’s expected that one is not taken seriously, then it wouldn’t be a surprise and one would not be let down.
Watch the whole interaction here:
