NEW DELHI:
RBS India, in collaboration with prominent industry leaders, organised the first ‘WomenInTech’ (WiT) Growth Summit in the capital today. The summit featured over 1000 women participating in a carefully curated series of sessions, masterclasses, and mentorship classes by over 150 leaders. The Summit saw participation of over 100 STEM organisations which discussed the current and impending disruptions that are shaping the industry and presented an opportunity for women in this sector.
Lynne Highway, HR Director Services & Functions said , “I am proud to see RBS form powerful partnerships with other organisations committed to increasing the number of women in STEM careers at events like the WiT growth Summit. These events, along with strategic interventions across the industry will have a great impact in empowering more women to take up STEM careers and leadership positions.”
Anuranjita Kumar, Managing Director and Head of International Hubs, RBS and Chairperson WiT said, “The technology industry has three times more male engineers to females, owing to various challenges in the sector. WiT was set up with a mission to break through these barriers to enable and empower women to thrive in STEM careers. WiT has crossed significant milestones over a short span with the help of a strong partner network which has demonstrated its commitment to this shared vision. I am extremely humbled to see how the industry has come together at the WiT Growth Summit to take this movement to the next level.”
Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM said, “As India looks towards growing into a 5 trillion-dollar economy, its strength in STEM is one of the most important pillar. With 2.5-3 million new jobs predicted to be created by 2025 in the IT-BPM Sector, it is imperative to grow female talent in technology to optimise our full potential. The ongoing success of WiT forum, with the strong participation from the technology industry and the vibrant talent, will ensure we create a more inclusive platform enabling more women to flourish in this field.”
The Summit resulted in over 50 STEM hirings at the WiT Career Fair.
Sameer Mathur, Director, HR, RBS India said, “The first WiT Growth Summit has seen encouraging participation from partners, industry leaders, and STEM talent; it has also generated tangible outcomes with talent absorption in STEM roles and greater emphasis on having more women in tech, which will be a net positive for the industry.”
Chaitanya Sreenivas, VP and Head HR, IBM said, “We have a large demographic dividend in India. However, it would never be fully realised without the active participation of women in the workforce. We have identified that women face a lot of challenges to pursue and continue in technology roles. It is forums such as these that will catalyse more women into STEM and help build a strong future of this country”.
RBS institutionalised WiT in 2018 – in partnership with Amazon, IBM, NatWest Markets, Sapient, Deloitte, American Express, Volvo, JC Penny, ANZ, Uber and TCS, academia like IIT and Ashoka University and NGOs like Literacy India, Avtar, Timeless Life Skills Foundation – to make strategic interventions across the industry to encourage women to pursue and sustain careers in STEM. WiT was constructed as a collaborative platform to ensure it is scalable and replicable for widespread adoption and nationwide impact. From a forum of 15 members and a target of positively impacting 1,00,000 girl students, today the initiative has over 150 members and has already impacted 2,20,000 females in India with chapters in Delhi, Bengaluru, Pune, and Chennai.
