New Delhi, Delhi, India | 24th March 2021: India-UK Business Council of Women’s India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WICCI), announced its formal launch with a team of 20 motivated members. India-UK Business Council of WICCI, comprising women leaders from India and the UK, seeks to encourage and empower women in business, industry and commerce across all sectors in India and the UK. The virtual launch witnessed participation from the individuals of impact and influence from India and the UK, dignitaries and representatives of large corporates and women in business, government officials, the WICCI family, influencers and changemakers. The Council’s mission is to robustly encourage and empower women in business, industry and commerce across all sectors and fields in both countries.
The launch was unfolded over a panel discussion by industry experts from India and the UK on the topic “Leading Businesses Into the Future: Opportunities and Trends for Women@Work“. The esteemed repertoire of panelists included Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Aarin Capital and Manipal Global Education; Richard Hawkes OBE, Chief Executive at The British Asian Trust; Anshu Bhartia, CEO at UnLtd India and Anisha Motwani, Founder of Storm the norm Ventures and Board Director at Abbott and L&T.
As per, Dr. Harbeen Arora, Founder President of WICCI, “WICCI boosts and builds empowering ecosystems for women’s entrepreneurship, businesses and leadership to thrive. With robust representation of women as office bearers across 150 sectors and close to 500 councils at National, Bilateral, State, City levels, WICCI councils are fostering women’s greater engagement with government, institutions, think tanks, media, civil society, corporates, thought leaders, and women’s business networks globally. To realise the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, and for India to have a USD 5 trillion economy, the equal and empowered participation of women in economy and society is essential. I congratulate the WICCI India-UK Business Council on their launch with 22 stellar women leaders, role models and change makers, who are paving the way for more joint ventures and collaborations between women in India and the UK, contributing to greater self-reliance for all.”
Devapriya Khanna, President, WICCI India-UK Business Council commented, “At the India-UK Business Council of WICCI, our fundamental objective is to bring together women from India and the UK together to support their professional growth, market expansion and professional development and to strengthen bilateral conversation and the business corridor between the two countries.”
“The launch of India-UK Business Council will accelerate the growth of India-UK women-led businesses in the new economic landscape. The Council will launch a business accelerator program where women entrepreneurs will get access to the vast network of WICCI, and mentorship in scaling up their businesses to the next level.”
Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Aarin Capital and Manipal Global Education said, “I am confident that Indian women will lead India forward and take the rightful role. Women in India are becoming empowered and are getting their rightful role in the country. India has more girls than boys in schools and we are seeing women in business who are doing well. There are women coming from traditional families who are donning the role of CEO’s. Unfortunately, the start-up segment is just dominated by 13% of women. The number can be increased if we show more women as role models and mentors so that young women are encouraged to take up the space. The government also needs to give access to capital to them so that we see more female entrepreneurs in the future to come.“
Richard Hawkes, Chief Executive at The British Asian Trust commented,“It has been a privilege for me to work with women in India. Overall, we need to make legislative and constitutional changes and implement rules related to maternity leaves, gender pay gaps, flexible working environment and empower every single person by focusing on skilling women.”
India-UK Business Council comprises senior women professionals, women achievers and entrepreneurs across the industry with experience in the corporate domain and in the entrepreneurship.
Devapriya Khanna (Founder and CEO 212 Degrees Brand Lab) is the Council President, Farah Ismail (Founder & Principal Consultant @ Interact Consulting) is the Council Vice President, Anna Dé (Founder and Director Healthcare Policy Consultancy), Andrea Stone (Founder Stone Leadership), Angela B. Spragg (International Coach-Publisher Women Empowerment & Toxicity Coach @ Advantage Women Network Ltd.), Aditi Banerjee (Co-founder and CEO Magic Billion), Frances Sinha (Director, M-CRIL), Kamalini Roy (Growth Acceleration Entrepreneur Coach), Kirubai Kohout (Personal Transformational Coach at SMILE Leadership Academy), Menaca Pothalingam (Leadership Consultant SMILE Leadership Academy), Punita Chandra (Company Director and Founder at Atelier Kabana), Shilpi Singh (Co-founder Studio4), Shilpa Ajwani (Founder & CEO unomantra), Shelley Hutchinson (Business Success Coach Client Nectar), Shefali Prakash (Assistant Director, Treasury Advisory, Deloitte UK), Shalini Rao (Chief Marketing Officer at Bangalore International Airport Ltd.), Supriya Rai (Founder & CEO at Switcheroo Global | Founder of Future Fellow 2020), Suparna Ghose (Associate Lecturer Anglia Ruskin University), Tanmaya Goswami (Founder & CEO Fashion Business Consulting), Vani Gupta Dandia (Independent Business Consultant, CherryPeachPlum Growth Partners).
The Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WICCI), established alongside ALL Ladies League (ALL), Women Economic Forum (WEF) and SHEconomy is an institutionalised National Business Chamber for women in India. The Chamber works closely with the government and key stakeholders across various countries to improve bilateral trade relations and facilitate ease of doing business and competitiveness for women-owned businesses. WICCI has manifold Sector Councils at National and State levels; Bilateral Business Councils in 90 countries internationally; Coordinating Councils at Regional and State levels; and cross-sectoral city councils, representing 150+ diverse sectors. The diverse councils develop different areas of focus to mainstream women’s voice and uphold women’s interest in policy making: helping women better incentives, improved access to finance and other measures that empower the competitiveness of Businesswomen, Entrepreneurs and Professionals.
