“It has been a myth that all of these things – technology, investment, businesses and AI – are the side of male’s world. I think the world is common and women and men are everywhere,” said Nivruti Rai, MD and CEO of Invest India. She was speaking to CNBC-TV18 at the Red Carpet of Future Female Forward.
Future Female Forward is CNBC-TV18’s mega initiative to chart a path to make gender parity an inevitable reality. The integrated campaign through sustained events, content, conversations, engagements and partnerships is designed to ignite dialogues that address and discuss the challenges that the women of today face.
Invest India, the investment promotion agency, serves as the trusted advisor, mentor, and enabler for all investors seeking opportunities in India.
Describing herself, she said, “apna zamaana aap banaate hain ahl-e-dil, hum vo nahin ki jin ko zamaana bana gaya”.
“I am fearless, I have lived technology, I have built technology and I am now part of Invest India,” she added.
Explaining future plans for Invest India, she further stated, “Invest India is going to drive the future of not just India but of the world.”
In 2022, Nasscom said 36% of India's tech workforce are women, up from 34% in 2016. However, only some of them rise through the ranks. In fact, the share of women in leadership positions dropped from 20% to 17%.
Experts attribute the gender gap in the Indian tech sector to structural barriers that make it difficult for women in their careers.
There's also a need for more support for women who want to enter or return to their jobs after having kids.
The lack of flexible working arrangements and childcare facilities makes it difficult for women to balance work and family life.
Ajaita Shah, Founder of a social commerce platform, Frontier Market, told CNBC-TV18, "It's been 20 years. And in a 20 year journey, I would say that we've gone from being a energy access company to a gender company to a tech company to now a women powerful platform. And it's been the most incredible journey."
"Today, 20,000 women entrepreneurs, a million families, 100 million solutions in ad tech, FinTech, health tech, digital payments, you name it - has been an incredible journey for us to understand that if you have the vision of investing in women and understanding the power of women, and just understanding the barriers to help them be more empowered, and you bring the right solutions and everything changes," she added.
Frontier Markets is a social commerce platform with a mission to create 'Saral Jeevan' or an 'Easy Life' for rural households by providing them local access to high quality, climate friendly, and gender inclusive products and services, including clean energy services, to last mile villages by investing in rural women entrepreneurs as connector to rural communities.
(Edited by : Sriram Iyer)
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