People Konnect Ups The Ante Of Women In Manufacturing At The SheMaker ’22 Summit

Showcasing life-changing success stories of women who have defied bias to rise in the manufacturing sector, the SheMaker Summit ’22 today unanimously reiterated the need for shopfloors to be gender-neutral and urged the Indian industry to bring about an unprejudiced culture of inclusion at workplace.    

In step with its stated mission of emboldening women to share the leadership of India’s exponential growth in manufacturing, engineering and operations, the Summit, now in its third season, brought top women achievers and Industry leaders together, offering inspiration and cutting-edge growth advice to women to help equip them with equal voice in their career pursuits.

Delivering the keynote address of SheMaker Awards Segment, Dr. Vidya Tikoo, Senior Vice-President, Aditya Birla Group, said: “Over the last few years, there has been a drastic change the way women look at their career. Women have now realized, it is not only about earning money and becoming self-reliant but making a mark for themselves. Seeing what is believing.  Women look at pursuing opportunities that might be different from how men pursue opportunities. Hence industries like Manufacturing see no distinction when it comes to men or women. There has been a greater participation of women on the shop floor and which has been encouraging for more women to come forward and explore opportunities with manufacturing industries.”

The SheMaker Summit ‘22 opened with the 4 Companies; 4 Stories Segment which showcased four leading companies – United Breweries, Volvo, Gestamp and Nestle – who presented their stories of inclusion that have remarkably contributed to their growth. They shared their Best in Class Inclusion Practices and initiatives driven.

Commenting on the changing face of shop floor, Dr Upasna A Agarwal, Organization Behavior and Human Resource Management, NITIE said, “The choice of career is an interplay of agency (personal dispositions, habits, education) and situation. We need to collectively work on building career intentionality among girls. This endeavour has to be aligned with supported with role modelling in family as well or organizational policies.”

To stimulate the vast talent pool of women, some of India’s top women professionals were presented to the audience. They included: Ms. Sunipa Roy, President, Offshore Oil & Gas SBU, Cairn India; Ms. J. Lalitha Bai, Manager, Quality Assurance, United Breweries Ltd.; Ms. Mohini Kelkar, Director, Sales & Marketing, Grind Master Machines Pvt Ltd.; and Ms. Meetali Mukherjee, Managing Director, Hydax Hydraulics Pvt. Ltd.

Purba Bhattacharya COO People Konnect said, “There is a body of work that is happening in this industry and the collective effort has picked up the momentum. We are working on diverse projects and also mobilizing thought leadership and best practices sharing amongst Inclusion professionals.  Our work spans across diverse talent infusion through various hiring drives across levels, FGD and sensitization sessions with key stakeholders and women professionals and talent development across career stages. Our flagship development program for women managers- Kick The Glass is a power full 10 weeks curriculum that deals with leadership issues through the gender lens and focuses on challenging our internal myths and breaking the stereotypes that often hold us back. We have also helped organisations with their inclusion-related communications and outreach.”

Conceptualized three years ago by People Konnect, the SheMaker Summit has been closing the gap between leading employers who value Inclusion and promising women who merit a meaningful professional break. Bringing the idea to fruition at the end of the Summit, a Career Fair was organized, where potential employers and career aspirants met to ascertain needs and scopes.  This gave the platform for featured organizations to meet potential applicants and creating Opportunities for women at junior, mid and senior levels.

Commenting at the summit, Ms. Anjali Gulati, Founder & CEO, People Konnect, “Work has no gender. The need to bring in the right mindsets is very critical and to start at young age to strengthen the career intentionality. For woman to be makers and build their careers as makers and not just consumers, we need the partnerships and support from organizations who are focused on creating an ecosystem for girls and women to thrive in.