JOIN US HSBC India group general manager and country head Naina Lal Kidwai on Tuesday released her book, 30 Women in Power: Their Voices, Their Stories, at an event organised by the FICCI Ladies Organisation in Bengaluru.
The book carries the inimitable voices of 30 Indian women in different sectors such as banking, law, not-for-profit, the media, stock exchange and credit rating, and hospitality and healthcare.
It was not easy for Naina to zero in on 30 Indian women as the list of accomplished women is quite large, but she managed to persuade the 30 from different sectors to write in their own voices. “They have written their personal experiences, the challenges they faced and much more,” says Naina, who has been travelling across the country to release the book.
She added that the book is also for men who have a working wife, and also for parents who want their daughters to achieve. The event also saw a panel discussion where four women — Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and MD of Biocon; Shaheen Mistry, founder of Akanksha Foundation; Nirupama Rao, former Indian ambassador to the US; and Shereen Bhan, Delhi bureau chief and managing editor of CNBC-TV18 — spoke about challenges they had faced.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw earned the degree of master brewer but she was not hired as a brewer in India as it was a male bastion. “While the door was shut on me I thought let me put my knowledge into some use and started a biotechnology company. It was not easy as I was not able to get loans. Overcoming those challenges made me strong,” she said.
Other panelists shared their barriers, family support, and how important it is to have perseverance and passion.