We As A Country Are Holding Behind Almost One Half Of Our Potential: Sangita Reddy, FICCI President
In an exclusive interview with Madhumita Chakraborty of BW Businessworld Dr Reddy talks about FICCI & FLO ‘s Tthe Greater 50% initiative and her conviction about the need to empower women more to achieve that goal of an economically vibrant India.
By Mudhumita Chakraborty, BW Businessworld
In 2007 the Hyderabad chapter of the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) chose Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI, for its award for a leader who had contributed to ‘Women Power and Entrepreneurship’. Dr Reddy though is more widely recognised as a powerful influencer for healthcare and has been drawing attention to the sector through both industry fora and at international platforms like the World Economic Forum and the World Health Congress.
She has since won a plethora of awards and accolades for the initiatives she has taken to expand the outreach of healthcare services to the underserved and to remote locations. Apollo Reach for instance, aims to build a string of secondary care hospitals in rural India and Apollo Knowledge strives to create healthcare human capital for the morrow. As the third woman President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), she recently launched the ‘Empowering the Greater 50 %’ initiative with FLO, supported robustly by the Union government.
In an exclusive interview with Madhumita Chakraborty of BW Businessworld Dr Reddy talks about the initiative and her conviction about the need to empower women more to achieve that goal of an economically vibrant India.
The FICCI Ladies Organistion (FLO) was established in 1983 to promote entrepreneurship and professional excellence among women, almost three decades before FICCI had a woman professional at its helm. FICCI’s first woman president, Naina Lal Kidwai, initiated the FLO affiliation with the Women Corporate Director (WCD) and you have now re-energised FLO again with the ‘Empowering the Greater 50 %’ initiative. What really inspired the project?
Women constitute about half of India’s population, but their contribution to the nation’s economy has not changed for years and has in fact gone down in recent times. We cannot afford to have a lopsided growth structure where a good half of the population is not fully integrated into the economy. A solid foundation for a New India cannot be built without women having an integral role in it. In fact, women have time and again proved that they are ‘Atma nirbhar’ and are the backbone of not only their families, but the entire society. Women deserve equal opportunities.
FICCI has been at the forefront of inclusive development and has always recognised the importance of the encouragement our women need to successfully contribute to the country’s GDP. With that in mind, FICCI FLO was established way back in 1983.
We felt the need to constantly reaffirm our faith and enthuse fresh ideas, hence the idea of ‘Empowering the Greater 50% initiative’ was born with the vision of enabling women’s inclusion at every level of the economy and enterprise as well as to augment the ongoing Women Empowerment movement in India.
The initiative targets to make an impact on the lives of a lakh women over the next three years. The programme is designed to enhance entrepreneurial and decision-making skills through engagements such as mentorship programmes, access to finance, business accelerators, training women to get into boards, special guidance to marginalised women on a business framework and financial models etc.