EdelGive Foundation and FICCI in collaboration with the State Education Department of Maharashtra launch ‘Leadership Dialogues’ to foster an entrepreneurial mindset among students, especially young girls in Maharashtra
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Honourable Minister, Dr. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad, Department of School Education and Sports, Maharashtra, inaugurated multiple initiatives and partnerships for model schools to propel the conducive education scenario in Maharashtra. One of the focal parts of the inaugurated initiatives was the partnership between EdelGive, FICCI, and the Department for the launch of a series called Leadership Dialogues to promote enterprise development through sensitisation, soft skills, and confidence-building among children, especially young girls studying in government schools in the state. In their vision to build aspirations in students to be job creators and not only job seekers, the three stakeholders have designed an interactive approach to sensitise secondary level students enrolled in classes 8th to 12th. The Dialogues have been curated to build an entrepreneurial mindset among students from a young age, through a range of carefully selected 06 industry stalwarts, as speakers who would be steering these Dialogues from March to August 2022.
Few of the speakers conducting these sessions are Dr. Sangita Reddy, Past President FICCI, Chair, FICCI – FLO Empowering the Greater 50% (women empowerment) mission and Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group, Naghma Mulla, CEO, EdelGive Foundation and Ms. Harjinder Kaur, MD & CEO, Comvision India Pvt. Ltd, Past President, FICCI Ladies Organisation and Co-Chair FICCI FLO Empowering the Greater 50% among others. The envisaged thematic areas for these sessions will focus on building an entrepreneurial mindset, the contours of the importance of economic independence, the need for financial planning from an early age, opportunities that STEM fields have to offer, and the capabilities of women leaders to shape overall societal attitudes and break biases, among others.
Shri. Vishal Solanki (IAS), Commissioner, Department of School Education and Sports, Government of Maharashtra said, “A holistic development of students cannot be confined to textbooks. As the provider of educational services to students from all sections of society, it is our responsibility to enable them to realise their full potential and equip them with tools that they can apply to improve their lives and contribute to society. The National Education Policy, 2020, too, reiterates the need to lay focus on
entrepreneurship, in the pedagogy adopted in classrooms. In the backdrop of the current employment scenario, where critical thinking and self-reliance are of prime importance, introducing and creating a discourse around the subject of entrepreneurship as a suitable yet achievable career route, is imperative. Today, we are glad to join hands with EdelGive Foundation and FICCI to especially inspire our young girls with the opportunities available to them to enter the labour force, through self-employment.”
Vidya Shah, Executive Chairperson, EdelGive Foundation said, “The Leadership Dialogues launched today, echo the significance that this International Women’s Day 2022 reiterates for each of us. The Dialogues are aimed at inculcating enterprise development among school children and affecting positive behavioural patterns, especially among young girls to opt for entrepreneurship as a viable career choice. Entrepreneurship enables women to have agency, as they become sole decision-makers while managing their enterprise, take their finances into their own hands, and build their expertise and social standing. Therefore, the kind of outcomes we expect women entrepreneurs to achieve under our Udyamstree campaign should be the targets that these young girls could set proactively for themselves in the coming future. This public-private partnership highlights the commitment of the power that multi-stakeholder groups bring in enabling students to build aspirations from the very foundational age. With the expertise of FICCI and the wide reach of the State Education Department of Maharashtra, we aim to bridge this gap by encouraging young minds from all sections of society to become job creators in addition to job seekers and chart new pathways to success.”
Highlighting the importance of entrepreneurial mindsets, Dr. Sangita Reddy, Past President FICCI and Chair, FICCI FLO Empowering the Greater 50% (women empowerment) mission said, “The entrepreneurial mindset is not simply a journey which ends with starting a venture. It is about having the resilience to deal with a gamut of obstacles, biases, and sometimes, even failure. It is acutely limiting since students from a young age feel that their career paths ought to be decided solely with respect to the availability of conventional employment opportunities. Through this engagement, we want to positively impact the outlook of young girls towards building their careers through innovative avenues like entrepreneurship and being self-reliant. Greater 50 mission has successfully built multi-stakeholder partnerships for aggregated efforts towards empowering women by enhancing their entrepreneurial and decision-making skills. This collaboration with Udyamstree – EdelGive and with the State Education Department of Maharashtra proves that synergies in the space of women empowerment can result in valuable outcomes. The joint Leadership Dialogues to be held under this partnership would positively affect students, especially young girls, across the State of Maharashtra and contribute towards building a better future and an inclusive society.”