Business Today hosted the 21st edition of Business Today’s Most Powerful Women 2024 event in Mumbai. Women leaders from various fields spoke about the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in running offices in India.
Shefali Goradia, Chairperson of Deloitte South Asia; Radhika Gupta, MD & CEO of Edelweiss AMC and Amisha Vora, Chairperson & MD of Prabhudas Lilladher Capital, in a session moderated by Aayush Ailawadi and Sakshi Batra shared their viewpoints on navigating the complexities of modern business.
Reflecting on the crucial aspect of multitasking in workplace, Radhika Gupta of Edelweiss AMC said, “Women are natural multitaskers without any professional training and spreadsheets. Multitasking is a tremendous skill in leadership. Atleast as a CEO, I was taught two things – one is stakeholder management as we look at regulators, media, customers etc, the other thing is that as you rise in an organisation your role becomes more generic. So, what we traditionally refer to as feminine skill sets are those which are required in the workplace.”
Speaking on the importance of being emotional at workplace, she cited her own example and said that there is ‘no right style of leadership’ and one must embrace their own style.
The three stalwarts also spoke lengthily on what keeps them awake at night as a women leader and for those women, who aspire to hit that benchmark.
Shefali Goradia of Deloitte South Asia said that in India there is still a lack of equal seats for women at the high table despite awareness. “We have almost 50 percent at the entry level but it thins out as women progress gradually. As leaders we need to create a framework which will enable more women to stay in the race,” she said, adding that despite several facilities being offered by India Inc for women more remains to be done. Goradia said in terms of geographies Europe does more in this aspect even better than the US.
Amisha Vora of Prabhudas Lilladher Capital said that best approach to address the women at workplace in they need to believe in themselves first.
Underlining the importance about investment, Vora said, “While you work to make money, investment and wealth creation makes money work for you. Your money works for you. Don’t miss out on that opportunity… Every rupee you keep waiting loses its value to inflation. What really brings back power to your money is wealth creation and equities bring most value.”
The BT MPW 2024 theme ‘Balance. Work. Life. Safety’, addresses the essential aspects of leadership, resilience, and well-being for women navigating the complexities of modern business.
