Stories give us perspective and context. Inspiration gives us hope and encourages belief that if you believe enough then no wall is strong enough to stop your progress. Here are a few stories of women on boards and in leadership positions of businesses that will inspire us all.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw<\/strong><\/a> is India\u2019s richest self-made woman. She is the founder of Biocon. In terms of revenue, Biocon is India’s largest listed pharmaceutical firm. She has earned two of India’s highest civilian awards, the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan. Her net worth is more than Rs 36000 Crores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indra Nooyi<\/strong><\/a> was CEO of Pepsico. for 12 years. She was the first woman to lead the company. Under her leadership, Pepsi reached new heights. She introduced a large number of strategic changes that led to the company\u2019s net revenue growing at an annualized rate of 5.5%, reaching $63.5 billion last year while $79.4 billion was returned to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Urvi A Piramal <\/strong><\/a>After her husband passed away, although devastated, she chose to venture into the world of business. After a family split in 2005, she inherited a loss-making business. But, with her utter ingenuity, within the span of six years, she paved the way for establishing the successful and famous Ashok Piramal Group with textile, real estate and auto components. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unsaid and largely disregarded is the contribution of women to India\u2019s and the world\u2019s success. Behind every success story, there is a woman. A woman, in her many roles as a mother, wife, sister, etc. leads households, nourishing us. They take care of the family\u2019s needs, teach us core cultural and moral values, and make the best decision for homes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to all these, they are great at savings too. Having said so, we are positive that women on boards work wonders for businesses worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Presently, the women\u2019s contribution to GDP in India<\/a> is merely 18%. In the formal sector, Indian women\u2019s participation is abysmal 24%, the lowest among developing nations<\/a>. Research shows that if equal opportunities are given to women then India could add US$ 770 billion to its GDP by 2025.\u00a0 It is also estimated that if women’s participation in the formal sector is the same as that of men, the Indian economy could grow by an additional 60% adding 2.9 trillion by 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n An economy\u2019s growth has a direct positive relationship with the number of women participating in the workforce, having equal opportunities and fair workplace policies<\/a>. So it’s only logical that female leadership in the workplace will be effective and productive. Women lead companies are doing great. Women are now being touted as the economic foundation of new-age India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The popular TV reality show Shark Tank India includes women judges, Vineeta Singh, Namita Thapar and Ghazal Alagh. These women judges in our humble opinion are better entrepreneurs than their male counterparts in many aspects. These women are strong, erudite, and financially sound; they have come a long way in the male-dominated patriarchal society of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We all know that traditionally mainly men provided for the families however when the women also work then there are two pairs of hands providing for the family. Studies<\/a> have shown that the inclusion of women in the workforce has created jobs and assisted millions of families in escaping destitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to a study<\/a>, globally, women hold only 19.7 percent of board seats, only 6.7 percent of board chair positions, only 5 percent of CEO, and only 15.7 percent of CFO positions. In India only 17.1% of board members are female<\/a>. 10%<\/a> of Fortune 500 companies’ CEOs are women. These numbers are growing but in reality, a snail moves faster than these numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In India, women-led businesses are 10% of all formal enterprises. As per recent figures, women comprise 14 % of the total entrepreneurs in India, which works out to 8 million. The MSME industry comprises 20.37 % women-led businesses that employ about 23.3 percent of the labor population. Around 14\u00a0 million businesses in India<\/a> are owned by women, who hire between 22 and 27 million individuals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The world does not only need more female participation in the labor force but in leadership roles as well. It is seen that women-led companies are doing as well as any other company, often better. Studies show the importance of female leadership in the workplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Women in leadership positions in businesses are positively correlated to both financial and non-financial parameters. A gender-diverse board and women in leadership positions contribute positively to a company’s environment, social & governance (ESG) performance and overall growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 49.58 % of the world’s population are women. However, as shown above, women in leadership positions, either in the workforce or in leadership roles in businesses are nowhere close to the population they comprise of. Women taking care of households are in control of household consumption. So naturally businesses target women consumers however the very same businesses do not have women on boards.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The importance of women in leadership positions in the workplace simply lies in the fact that it would bring a diversity of perspectives in business. More diversity would foster more creativity. Women by virtue of their biological setup bring with them special skill sets, knowledge and values. Different perspectives will lead to better foresight and risk assessment, mitigation and management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Women-led companies would have women-friendly policies. It would inspire confidence in the female workforce. Women will feel safe and represented. This ultimately would lead to companies overall growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Women apply certain leadership behaviors such as employee development, expectations and rewards, role model, inspiration and participative decision making which makes companies having women in leadership positions outperform<\/a> the companies that do not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This blog started with stories of inspiration. Therefore, it is only befitting to end with such stories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Advanced Micro Devices<\/a> (AMD), a semiconductor company, got a woman employee called Lisa Su<\/strong> in 2012. Under her leadership as AMD\u2019s CEO in 2014, the world witnessed one of the greatest recent turnarounds in the tech industry. AMD’s stock value has increased more than 25-fold since Su became CEO<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Asma Ishaq<\/strong> is CEO of Modere<\/a>, a consumer products company that develops and markets clean, health and wellness products. Forbes included Modere in the top 10 Health<\/a> & Beauty e-commerce companies. Under Ishaq\u2019s leadership, company revenue has skyrocketed, growing by over 1,700 percent from 2016 to 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smile Foundation<\/a> through its women empowerment programme, Swabhiman<\/a> is making continuous efforts to create women leaders by investing valuable resources in women from vulnerable backgrounds who show great potential in entrepreneurship. Many workshops and other activities are held for enabling women to reach their true potential and goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only this, but many of the female employees of Smile Foundation are also in leadership roles heading various programmes and departments of the organisation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stories give us perspective and context. Inspiration gives us hope and encourages belief that if you believe enough then no wall is strong enough to stop your progress. Here are a few stories of women on boards and in leadership positions of businesses that will inspire us all.\u00a0 Stories of Inspiration Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-women-empowerment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smilefoundationindia.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Introduction: Beginning of Women on Boards<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Women in Workforce: The More, the Merrier\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Power of Women in Boards: Formula for Success<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Women Leadership\u2014 Shot at Long-lasting Success <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Smile Foundation and Women in Leadership Roles<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n