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Siliconindia Women Event attracts 1000 women professionals across India
ST Team
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
In the honour of International Women's day, siliconindia organized an exclusive forum for women technology professionals: Women 2.0 Summit on March 13, 2009 across four cities -- Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. Over 1000 women from all levels of the technology industry attended the event in total. Over 60 women technology leaders, that include leaders from companies like Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, Infosys, Texas Instruments, UST Global, Harbinger, AppLabs, Amazon, Unisys, Citrix, FXLabs, Alcatel-Lucent, Satyam, Virtusa, Ramco, Hexaware, Zensar, Persistent Systems and many more, spoke at the siliconindia Women2.0 Summit.

"Your company perhaps may have a structured women initiatives program. There aren't many forums where women professionals can meet their counterparts from other organizations and exchange note. Peer networking is essential for one to rise up in a professional career. siliconindia Women2.0 Summit is our endeavor toward that goal. This was an opportunity for all women professionals in your organization to benefit from the Summit, says Harvi Sachar, CEO of siliconindia.

This platform created a wide range of professional development and networking opportunities. One of the Summits goals is to create a forum where women in technology can be promoted as role models.

At the Summit, there were four panel discussions on topic such as Ascending the Corporate Ladder; Women's Work: The Great Juggling Act; Strategic Mentoring: The Power of Many and The Women Entrepreneurs.

“This is not the era of women empowerment. Women are already empowered. Today she boldly takes her decisions in life and faces the challenges and hurdles effectively that may come on her way”, said Rajini Dasgupta, Associate VP of Business Development at Harbinger Knowledge products. She was giving her keynote speech at Siliconindia Women 2.0 summit held at Pune. In the exciting panels that followed, speakers shared their good times and not so good, as they examine the formulas for success, and enlighten those who don't already know about the mountains they still have to climb.

The case study of Lijjat Pappad was discussed by Chandra Prabakar , VP of Ramco in Chennai. Gujarati housewives from Mumbai started Lijjat Pappad with a base fund of Rs 80. The annual sales for the first year were Rs 6196. They started a series of other businesses with hits and misses. Today, the annual sales are over Rs. 300 crore. Lijjat Pappad was featured in the Economic Times as the Business Woman of the Year in the year 2002. “Leave emotional baggage back at home. Identify support groups for sharing and mentoring.” said Remadevi Thottathil, Head - HR, UST Global.

The event in Bangalore was kick started by two dynamic leaders of Cisco: Mrinalini Ingram, Senior Director, Finance and Archana Handa, Director - Corporate Communication. Archana said “Take risks, new challenges; you have nothing to lose.” Mrinalini stressed on seeking diversity in your experiences and continue learning. “Set high goals and don’t limit yourself” said she. Rituparna Mandal, Project Manager, Texas Instruments stressed the importance of finding the right mentor.

The Summit was designed to enable women technology professionals to expand their network and help in professional development. Many women benefited from the event as well. As Kavitha Y, Associate lawyer in the P.V.S. Giridhar & Sai Associates said “I have been struggling to fulfill family commitments without diluting my professional obligations and growth. The sharing of the speakers made me to feel that I was not alone and that it is possible to achieve our full professional potential, despite our family commitments”

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