Meeting with the ASSOCIATION OF WOMEN BUSINESS LEADERS IN ICELAND (FKA)

The FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) delegationled by the current President of FLO, Ms. Archana Garodia Gupta visited Iceland. A 41 member delegation of women entrepreneurs met the Association of Women Business Leaders in Iceland (FKA) at Reykjavík on September 29, 2015 at 0930 hrs.The programme was moderated by Ms. JónínaBjartmarz.

The delegation members were received by the MsThordis Loa Thorhallsdóttir, Chairperson for FKA. The delegate members were then directed to sit on the tabled earmarked for them. The idea was that they would sit on the table with entrepreneurs from Iceland of similar business interest.

Ms. ThordisLóaThorhallsdóttir, Chairman of FKA delivered a welcome address and a glimpse of how tough the life of a woman in Iceland was juggling between roles. The welcome address was followed by a series of interesting presentationsby FKA members.

The first presentation was by Ms.KolbrúnHrafnkelsdóttir, CEO and Co–Founder Florealis. She had a background in the pharmaceutical industry. She has been responsible for leading international product development and product change projects.

Ms. StefaníaBjarneyÓlafsdóttir, Head of Research and Analysis at Plain Vanilla Games (QuizUp) was the next speaker. Stefania is a mathematician with interest in understanding the nature of and the reason for things, problem solving, creativity, data mining, statistical inference, algorithms, logic, communication, human behavior and the way of the world. She shared her story about how, it was difficult for her to convince girls to study mathematics, when she was entrusted with skilling and guiding resources for the industry.

Fida Abu Libdeh, CEO geoSilica Iceland, was a touching and an inspiring story of a woman struggling with disabilities and also with man-made rules.

ErlaHlínHjálmarsdóttir, holds the position of a project manager at UNUGEST, responsible for research and academic coordination. As a part of is part of the Icelandic government’s development cooperation efforts, a gender equality programme was launced in 2009, which became the United Nations University Gender Equality Studies and Training Programme (UNU-GEST) in 2013. The mission of UNU-GEST is to promote gender equality and social justice through policy-relevant research, capacity building and transnational dialogue.

After the talks from these amazing ladies from Iceland, the Indian side was represented by Ms Archana Garodia Gupta, President of FICCI-FLO.She talked about the various initiative of FLO. She mentioned the various levels to which FLO activities are directed. She also mentioned how, we are working towards breaking gender taboos in the society by training women to take up driving jobs, guarding jobs etc.True to its mission of “Empowerment through Entrepreneurship”, FLO is not only working in the space of skill development and gender equality, but working at creating more women entrepreneurs through its initiative titled “SWAYAM”. FLO has created a pool of experts throughout its chapters, of CA, Lawyers and experts, who will mentor the women/ girls to set up their own enterprises.

An MOU was signed between the two chambers to work towards the following:

• FLO and FKA shall organize joint meetings in India and Iceland respectively for liaison and consultation between the business women of India and Iceland at mutually agreed time and venue;
• Both parties shall take concrete steps to foster friendship and understanding between the business women of India and Iceland to promote cooperation in trade, investment, services and women economic empowerment between both the countries;
• Exchange of information shall be executed with regard to trade, economic cooperation and services between the two countries particularly with regard to women entrepreneurs’ training;
• Recommendations necessary for promoting more effective economic relations between the women entrepreneurs of two countries may be submitted to the respective governments, if considered desirable; and
• There shall be cooperation between both sides in receiving women entrepreneurs and technical experts when considered appropriate.
  To support and encourage participation by the business community in exhibitions and trade fairs to be held in Iceland and India.

The Senior Vice- President FLO, Ms Vinita Bimbhet, delivered the vote of thanks and also thanked the organizers. She took the opportunity to hand over the FLO literature to MsThordis Loa Thorhallsdóttir, Chairperson for FKA. She also requested the eminent members of the delegation to hand over a memento, as a token of our appreciation, to the office bearers.

Last but not the least, Mr. ÓlafurStephensen, Secretary General, The Icelandic Federation of Trade addressed the gathering.

The meeting was followed by lunch hosted by The Icelandic Federation of Trade. The members of the delegation informally interacted with the members of the FKA.

The meeting ended with a group photo to remind us all of the good interaction. We hope that the interaction forms the basis of some good trade relationship between the two countries