The lecture was a part of
the fourth edition of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat - Vocal for Local – Moving towards
Self-Reliant India’
· Creation of knowledge base for finance
assistance and marketing support crucial for survival of female entrepreneurs
· Indian products need to meet global standards
through strict vigilance and rigorous testing while maintaining competitive
pricing at home
The
Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), one of the
apex trade associations of India
in association with ITC Sunfeast concluded the fourth edition of its Wisdom
Series lecture titled ‘Role of Women Entrepreneurs’ on the
theme of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat - Vocal for Local – Moving towards
Self-Reliant India’.
The event saw an expert panel consisting of Ms Ritu Beri, Fashion
Designer, Dr. Blossom Kochhar, Chairperson, Blossom Kochhar Group of companies
and Ms. Seema Jindal Jajodia, Founder, Nourish Organics hold an
insightful discussion on building successful entrepreneurial grounds to boost
and encourage women participation in building an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
The
panellists at large deliberated on how to promote local MSMEs and industries to
achieve a self-reliant India
in an engaging webinar. Emphasizing the need for skilling and continuous
knowledge upgradation across the country to reach this goal, Dr.
Blossom Kochhar, Chairperson, Blossom Kochhar Group of companies said,
“Every woman needs to be empowered and the best way to do it is skilling. Skill
them to become entrepreneurs. I too started from a little place, they can start
anywhere, it does not even have to be a town. During COVID times, I figured
that they need not rent an entire place, they can also get a big space together
and then work. It is an easy and empowering way. We have to realise that when
you empower a woman you also help her to contribute to the GDP of the country
as she gets to provide for her family.”
The
expert speakers while sharing nuggets of their success stories also mentioned
how Make In India is slowly shaping up in India and has steadily changed
sourcing of raw materials for some businesses. Dr. Kochhar mentioned how
initially lavender for her aromatherapy products had to be imported from France as they were not produced in India,
however, now her raw resources are majorly received from various corners of the
country and the final product exported. Ms. Jajodia also added that her first
batch of products was completely made from raw materials sourced from abroad as
back then organic food materials existed only for rice and dal. But that has
now changed as more and more ingredients have been brought under organic
farming in India.
However,
the panellists agreed that for the country’s produce to meet global standards,
quality products need to be delivered on time while maintaining competitive
pricing at home as Indians continue to be price conscious buyers.
New Delhi, 20th October
2020
.JPG)
