FLO Women Transforming India Awards 2020

On this International Women’s Day Each for Equal is a call for a proactive and unified stand, wherein we can collectively fight the challenges, break stereotypes, look beyond gender and work towards a just, equitable and
sustainable world.

To commemorate International Women’s Day 2020, FLO organised a panel discussion titled Each for Equality: Accelerating Inclusive Growth with the objective to provide global perspectives on inclusive growth and economic empowerment of women, with special reference to the role of women in the countries vis-à-vis the experience in India.

FLO President, Harjinder Kaur Talwar said, “ On this International Women’s Day Each for Equality is a call for a proactive and unified stand, wherein we can collectively fight the challenges, break stereotypes, look beyond gender and work towards a just, equitable and sustainable world.”

“It is also very important to recognize success stories of women achievers. This will not only inspire them to do better but also inspire other women to bring out the best in themselves.”, she added.

The Ambassadors and High Commissioners in India are the representatives of the respective nation and they are best positioned to bring to the table, a global perspective on the subject. H.E. Mr. André Aranha Corrêa do Lago, Ambassador of Brazil and H.E. Dr. Heba Salah Eldin Elmarassi, Ambassador of Egypt shared their experiences experience in context of their own countries and highlighted on the emerging role of women in these countries and underlined the role of the government in harnessing the strength of women.

The Indian perspective was shared by another panelist Ms Nistha Satyam, Deputy Country Representative, UN Women.  Smt Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament moderated the session and shared her inputs. FLO endeavors to recognize women achievers who have carved a niche for themselves and are playing an exemplary role in the society in their respective areas. To commemorate International Women’s Day 2020, 6 women of excellence were felicitated for their outstanding achievements in their respective area of work, with the FLO WOMEN TRANSFORMING INDIA AWARDS 2020. The awardees were:

1. Shahnaz Hussain, Founder, Chairperson & Managing Director, The Shahnaz Husain Group (As an ICONIC Entrepreneur)
2. Dr. Shobha Vijender Gupta, Founder President, Sampurna (for her contribution in social work
3. Sonal Kalra, Managing Editor of HT (for her contribution to journalism)
4. Lalita Nijhawan, Director, Nijhawan Group of Companies (to felicitate hr as a Business Leader in Travel Industry)
5. Preiti Patel, CMD, Raspian Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. (for Breaking the glass ceiling in Business)
6. Shivani Malik, Marketing Director at Da Milano Leathers Pvt. (for her contribution in marketing and Communication)

An MoU was signed between UNWomen and FLO for working towards empowerment and inclusion of women entrepreneurs in the private sector. The celebrations of International Women’s Day ended with the soulful musical renditions by NIZAMI BANDHU, the most admired and prestigious Sufi band by of Ustad Chand Nizami, Shadad Faridi Nizami and Sohrab Faridi Nizami. Other distinguished guests present were Shri Vijender Gupta, Member of Legislative Assembly and member of BJP’s National Executive; Shri Sudhanshu Mittal, Political Thinker and BJP leader; Smt Rekha Sharma, Chairperson of the National Commission for Women in India and Mr Dilip Chenoy, Secretary-General, FICCI. This event was powered by Deutsche Bank and supported by Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade, Government of India