With a rapidly growing Indian economy, one presumes that a greater proportion of women would now be entering the workforce across metros and small towns in India. 

Yet data indicates otherwise.

With only 29% of women over the age of 15 working, India has one of the lowest workforce participation rates when compared to many other emerging economies (The Conversation, 2014).

While women’s educational attainment has improved over the years, organizations where women work, continue to be challenged with retention and growth of women at mid and senior levels.

PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN IN FORMAL WORKPLACES: 
INDIA'S LEAKING PIPELINE

But, women do aspire. Despite their low representation in leadership positions, 97.2% of women, as compared to 95.6% of men, do aspire for jobs with increased responsibility (Catalyst, 2015).

Anita Ratnam

Founder of Samvada Youth Resource Centers and Baduku Community College, organisations today recognized for equipping young people with values, knowledge and skills to build their lives while also making meaningful contributions to society. She has anchored multidimensional projects funded by prestigious institutions like the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation, German Church Development Services, Swiss Development Cooperation, American Jewish World Service, Tata Trusts and is a CSR partner for reputed corporations. Alongside building and leading SAMVADA, Anita has also consulted with international donors, educational institutions and grassroots NGOs for policy formulation, program design, institutional development and impact assessment. She has dedicated the last 25 years of her working life to disadvantaged youth. As a result of her drive and vision, over 4000 youth from excluded communities have ledinitiatives for social change, and more than 700 have entered socially critical professions such as teaching, counseling, journalism, youth work, child care and sustainable farming.

If you are looking for a resident social entrepreneur, expert facilitator, prolific writer or a deep, impassioned exponent on gender and youth issues…look no further! Anita has authored over 25 research papers, several newspaper articles, and writes fiction as well as poetry.

Combining a humane and sensitive approach with the practicality of experience – Anita, brings to our team her immense belief that true change starts with us all.

She has an M.A. In Development Studies (University Of East Anglia, 1997) and a Post-graduate Diploma In Rural Management (Institute Of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), 1983).

Faustina Sharma

Began consulting with schools and designing learning curriculum over 10 years ago.  Having worked with iDiscoveri for many years, she knows exactly what it takes to implement innovative projects in the education space, what it means to coach and mentor school teachers and to challenge and work with an education system that can be hardened with legacy mindsets.  She brings this deep awareness of systems into her work with organizations as well. She has worked with leaders across medium and large corporations – courageously facilitating learning spaces that focus on self-reflection and dialogue. As an entrepreneur, she ran her own HR placement company for a few years.

In our learning design meetings, we trust Fausty to bring in her analytical focus, that beautifully balances her creative imagination, and her amazing willingness to stretch and challenge herself and others.

She has a B.A. in Psychology  (from Mount Carmel College Bangalore). 
She is also a fellow at Sumedhas Academy for Human Context.

Shabari madappa

Began her career in human resources over 23 years ago working with firms such as Titan Industries, Sasken Communication Technologies Limited and Texas Instruments in Bangalore. She, then, established herself as a trained facilitator and organization development (OD) consultant in 2008. She has an impressive list of corporate clients that span diverse industries (energy & petro-chemical firms, consumer goods, healthcare, technology and banking/financial sectors). Over the past 8 years, she has facilitated leadership development workshops for more than 12,000 leaders across the world. She believes in creating a challenging and supportive learning environment, so that leaders can delve deep into their personal experience to make authentic choices. She is an Adjunct Coach with Centre for Creative Leadership, Singapore and is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) through International Coach Federation (ICF).

Her business and entrepreneurial skills were further honed as a partner in a chain of 4 Euro cuisine restaurants in Bangalore.

Being an avid traveller, her immense curiosity, openness and willingness to experiment helps us as a team, to create learning with a strong individual and business impact.

She has a Masters degree in Human Resources (XLRI - Jamshedpur, 1990-1992).
She is also a fellow at Sumedhas Academy for Human Context, an institution working in the area of fostering human processes and working with the human context.

SWASTHIKA RAMAMURTHY

Brings in immense experience in designing learning & development interventions for over 23 years. She worked with reputed international organizations (GE and Sun Microsystems) where she led the Learning & Development function for India and APAC region for X years. As an independent consultant since 2008, she specializes in competency mapping, performance and change management and training programs in selection skills, team building and succession planning. She has facilitated programs for women leaders that aim at helping women identify and acknowledge their unique strengths, embrace their work-life balance challenges and embolden them to make better life choices. She has certifications in facilitative methodologies, and 4 psychometric instruments that she widely uses in her coaching practice. She is also a certified ACC coach through International Coach Federation (ICF)..

To our team, she is the glue…her energy, self-belief and the compassion she demonstrates in every interaction emboldens us with a commitment to make a difference through our work.

She has an M.Sc. in Neurophysiology (from Mumbai University).
She is also a fellow at Sumedhas Academy for Human Context.