Roundtable Meeting with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia of the U.S. Department of State, Ms. Alyssa Ayres and the accompanying WOMEN ICT BUSINESS DELEGATION

In a world where over 95% of all jobs have a digital component, and where there is a large and growing shortage of talent and skills in the ICT sector, the need of the hour is to get more women involved and take interest in ICT careers.

This was observed by FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) members led by Ms Malvika Rai, President FLO at the roundtable meeting with Ms. Alyssa Ayres, Deputy Asst Secy for South & Central Asia of the U.S. Dept of State held at FICCI on 20 May 2013.

Ms Malvika Rai, President FLO said in her opening remarks that FLO would be delighted to work together with the visiting delegation for supporting and developing women leaders in the field by addressing skills gap by hosting “tech boot-camps” to provide targeted training for fresh graduates; preparing the next generation of women role models in the ICT field by offering leadership and professional development trainings; and developing new linkages with local and virtual partners to create robust mentoring programs for students and professional women. Ms Rai further added that FLO would also bring out relevant white papers on themes and issues relevant to the field.

In her remarks, Ms Ayres said “Increasing representation of women and girls in Science & Technology is not only a national imperative but a global one.”

Ms Debjani Gosh, Managing Director, Intel Technology India Pvt Ltd highlighted the significant difference role models can make in a women’s career and how FICCI FLO can encourage more and more women to come forward as role models and mentor young girls entering the Industry.

Ms Sangeeta Gupta, Vice President, NASSCOM shared that even though 30% of workforce in the ICT sector are women, only 6% are at the senior or middle level. This is because there is ‘aspiration deficit’ among women as they are not aspiring to be leaders and are happy to drop off after 15-20 years of experience.

Ms Ayres is leading a tech delegation of top women executives in the ICT sector from the U.S to India. The purpose of the visit is to discuss with potential partners (from the public and private sectors) about building a network of women entering the ICT sector.

The delegation contributed significantly to establishing new links between the women professionals of the two countries.