Leading ladies emphasise on 3 Cs for entrepreneurship | Page 4 | Sunday Observer

Leading ladies emphasise on 3 Cs for entrepreneurship

3 December, 2017

Women’s entrepreneur skills can duly be harnessed only when they are provided with strong family support and sufficient knowledge on cutting edge technology. If young women are given this support and encouraged to get into their own ventures, they will take the lead to create jobs and contribute to economic growth through entrepreneurship. These views were discussed at a plenary session on ‘Innovations in Workforce development and Skills training’ during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017 in Hyderabad last week.

The panelists included leading women professionals and entrepreneurs - Advisor to US president Donald Trump - Ivanka Trump, wife of former British Prime Minister - Cherie Blair, ICICI Bank MD - Chanda Kochhar and CEO Dell Company - Karen Hughes. The session was moderated by Telangana IT Minister K Taraka Ramarao.

Ramarao stressed on the 3 Cs for growth of women entrepreneurs, they include confidence, capacity and capital while the women leaders wanted policy changes, cultural changes and good leaders to support such initiatives for change.

As a business woman and an entrepreneur, Ivanka Trump said technology can reduce the barriers in starting businesses for women entrepreneurs. “Technology would open tremendous opportunities for women. The US government is actively considering a policy in support of providing a conducive environment for women entrepreneurs soon,” she added. In supporting Trump’s ideas, Cherie Blair said IT will certainly support women to reach their goals. Blair who works with underprivileged women and societies through her foundation said, technology support has helped her reach out to women in need across the globe.

Kochchar who often talks about creating a feasible working environment for women with maximum family and professional support, emphasized the need for training programs that bridge the digital divide. Her bank has taken steps to train women on IT skills. “One lakh youth are being trained every year in various sectors out of which 50 percent are women,” she said. Policy changes, cultural changes, good leaders to support such initiatives are needed.

She also added that for a woman, the most challenging stage is when she is starting her family. Organisations as well as society need to support her then the most. “Women tend to give up when they are starting a family. This is the most crucial time of a woman’s life, when she needs support the most. Otherwise women tend to give up their careers.

“So companies should create the environment which is feasible for women by doing what they can to retain them.”

Answering a question on what they expect their daughters to do in this challenging environment, Trump said her daughter is her biggest inspiration.

Cherie Blair added that she would want her sons to understand the role their wives have to play at home, at work and in society. “For my daughter, I think the most important thing is to marry well and choose the right partner.

“When I talk about what I want to see for my daughter, I actually think more about my sons because as a mother of three sons and one daughter, I have to actually think how I am bringing up my sons.

“My two elder boys are both married to very successful career women but the one thing I said to both of them the day before they got married was ‘I know you’re very proud of your wife to be and her career.”

Karen Quintos Hughes said she would like to see more women and girls in roles related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), whether they are entrepreneurs that are creating innovative technology or whether it is girls that are graduating with STEM-related degrees.

“The number of women in STEM currently is really scary. Those are the areas where jobs are going to be in the future, the salaries are going to be higher, and job security is going to be greater.

“Technology is permeating everything and what I would love to see is a much more balanced set of graduate men and women that are in STEM-related fields. It’s going to be a huge business imperative for many companies and governments around the world.” 

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