India & Spain – Business & Trade Conclave of Women Entrepreneurs 2021

The gender divide is visible in the international trade. Barriers include legal and regulatory barriers, access to capital, cultural barriers, and the provision of training to build the necessary knowledge and skills.

FLO’s initiative ‘Empowering women through trade & business’ aims at creating a worldwide forum for the exchange of information, experience, visibility, and connectivity among women business owners, setting the stage for new opportunities and joint ventures among entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Under the aegis of this initiative, FLO partnered with CEOE International, one of the largest chambers of commerce in Spain, Embassy of India in Spain and Embassy of Spain in India to organize the virtual conclave. This is a step towards building a long-term relationship with Spain that will benefit FLO members to know more about doing business and trade with Spain.

Objectives of the virtual business conclave was to increase the awareness of policymakers of the potential of women entrepreneurs and raising awareness of related barriers that hamper their participation in international trade.

The conclave was addressed by His Excellency Sanjay Verma, Ambassador of India to Spain; Her Excellency Montserrat Moman, Deputy Head of Mission of the Spanish Embassy in India and Acting Ambassador; Ms Maria Paz Ramos, General Director for International Trade and Investment of the Secretariat of State for Trade of Spain; Shri. Rajendra Ratnoo, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India and Ms Marta Blanco, President CEOE International.

It was followed by a panel discussion on Opportunities & Challenges in trade & business between India & Spain.

The panellists were Elena García Rus, Project Manager, Business Development Department – TALGO; Priya Selvaraj, General Manager, Country Head, Cabinets and Power Electronics Business – Siemens Gamesa and Aparna Viswanathan, Managing Partner, Viswanathan & Associates Aarti Gupta, Jagmini Micro Knit Pr. It was moderated by Drushti Joshi, Spain Desk- Invest India.

Shekhar Second Secretary, Pol & Commerce, Embassy of India; Regina Sancha Head of Economic & Commercial Offices in India; Maria Torres Sr. VP, FLO CEOE International and Rashmi Sarita ED FLO addressed the concluding part of the session.

Dharitri Patnaik, Founder Chair of Bhubaneswar Chapter and National Head, Empowering women through trade & business’ was the Day Chair for the session.