FOR WOMEN ONLY…but the whole country benefits

Women in India mean business. They are literally and figuratively emerging from the shadows of gender, religious and caste discrimination to become a driving force behind the country’s quest to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027. And as far as the women’s arm of the apex business chamber is concerned, it’s not far-fetched that small islands like Barbados can empower their female business leaders to make a similar impact on their countries’ path to economic growth.

And, they say, they’re willing to show Bajan businesswomen how.

Just five months ago, Prime Minister Narendra Singh Modi declared that “from space to sports, startups to self-help groups, every sector that is on an upswing is seeing women taking the lead”.

“The message of women-led development is making waves all over the world — this is the power of Indian women,” he told Indian business website Moneycontrol News last September.

FLO – the Ladies Organisation of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) – wholeheartedly agrees, its president Sudha Shivkumar adding that the group has been able to help businesswomen make that impact.

“We are being recognised as the go-to organisation for women’s empowerment in business,” she told a delegation of senior journalists and editors from Latin America and the Caribbean who are in India on a one-week familiarisation tour as guests of the Ministry of External Affairs.

But she doesn’t want FLO’s impact to stop there.

FLO, which represents over 8 000 women entrepreneurs and professionals, is based in the Indian capital, with 19 chapters covering different geographical regions. Assisting women in business outside those borders, however, is something it’s open to.

Although it currently has no links to the Caribbean, Shivkumar and National Senior Vice President Joyshree Das Verma say FLO is very much open to helping the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry, for example, establish a similar all-female arm to do what the Indians do — “encourage and facilitate women to showcase their talents, skills, experiences and energies across sectors and verticals of the economy, for a truly inclusive economic growth trajectory”.

But how possible would such a collaboration be? Shivkumar is blunt: “It’s as possible as much as you want it to be. It’s directly proportionate to the fire you have to represent the people of your country.”

She says she’s willing to share what worked for FLO, which was established in 1983. Speaking to Barbados TODAY, Verma later backs up FLO’s offer to help.

For the past four decades, FLO has been promoting entrepreneurship development and professional excellence among women, says Shivkumar. By providing training, mentoring, and networking opportunities, it has helped countless women across India start and grow their businesses.

The New Delhi-based organisation works with women at three levels. At the grassroots level, it provides entrepreneurship and skill development programmes to make women more employable and absorbable in markets.

At the middle level, FLO helps women set up their own businesses; and at the senior level, it seeks to promote women in leadership and board positions.

dawneparris@barbadostoday.bb