Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (WICCI) is a National business chamber launched to boost women’s entrepreneurship and build a safety net for businesses run by women. After the great success of the national chapter, the state-wise chambers were also started to provide benefits to more and more women, and the state-wise chamber will cater to a more niche audience. The Delhi chapter of WICCI was recently launched on 25th March 2021 by the initiative of Meghna Joshi and her team of determinant entrepreneurs. In no time, the team has more than 30 members who are part of the WICCI team.
Meghna Joshi, President WICCI Delhi
The team is currently led under the guidance of Meghna Joshi, who is a social entrepreneur by Profession. Her venture SWAN (Skilled Workforce Advancing Nation) Livelihood aims to build the youthful workforce’s capacity through specially designed training and learning programs. She possesses an eclectic academic background with Commerce in the school, Honours in Business Economics from Delhi University. She also has long years of experience working in the Corporate and Development Sector in project management, operations work, imparting training in various skill sets, and building capacities of informal sector workforce. She has also managed and monitored the operations of various Skill Development Sectors.
In conversation with Hatke Story, she mentioned how the Delhi chapter is working continuously to strengthen its building network. To build these networks, they provide continuous networking support, weekly catch-up events, brainstorming of new ideas, and interaction to resolve the problems of all the council members to strengthen the women’s entrepreneurship as a part of the Delhi Startup Council.
This safety net helps people talk to solve problems of each other, and this gives insurance to all the members that they have a team of people who will always help them. To understand the work more deeply, we asked her to give insight into these weekly meet-ups, then she mentioned that- “weekly catch-up meetings every Sunday with the council members is to understand the progress and challenges being faced by women entrepreneurs. We hold weekly live sessions with the council members to gain a better understanding of their journey so far.”
She also mentioned how the council is trying to expand its scope of work. “We are also planning to hold more sessions, seminars, and guest lectures by inviting eminent guests from diverse fields who could support us to the cause of women empowerment.”
The start-ups that are currently part of WICCI are mainly from education, skill development, training, e-commerce, sustainable fashion, etc. WICCI is working continuously to bring more and more sectors into the segment.
When we asked her how her experience was as the president, she said- “The experience has been excellent working with a team of super enthusiastic council members. We have divided the responsibilities of the council based on our experience and our area of expertise. This way, we will be collectively able to carry forward the activities of the council. The benefit from the experience and support from everyone will help in the functioning of our businesses.”
We also got the chance to talk to a few council members who shared their experiences of the meetings and events. Juhi Singh, the founder of Innofy, a start-up itself, mentioned, “It’s been a great journey as we work in council with the spirit of mutualism, each day learning and growing together. It is of great help to expand your network. We are getting in touch with like-minded people. Regular discussions, problem-solving sessions, and motivating each other to work on our ventures and make them a success. I am obliged to be part of such a great initiative.”
Another member, Heena, Ahuja, Founder, The GrandMaa’s, which is a haircare brand, mentioned- “It feels like leading the pack of masters to a new horizon and unlocking which everybody ever realized is impossible for us too. WICCI is a gambit of the female superheroes of our society who have leveraged the living standards and also sparkled in their way to outshine the “Unstoppable attitude” in society. We have a long way to go and more horizons to be pasted in the same book of WICCI.”
The WICCI gives a chance to the different business entrepreneurs and students who are inspired to work with WICCI. It gives students the to work up-close with members and learn about entrepreneurship. We talked to one such student- Janvi Sharma, a third-year B.Com Student at the University of Delhi, who is volunteering as a designer and a facilitator in the council.
She shared her experience of working with the council as well- she mentioned- “Being a woman myself, I enjoyed engaging with women entrepreneurs from different walks of life. Getting to know more about their journeys, I got inspired to carve a place in the business world. It has helped me grow as a person and has given me a tremendous amount of learning. I am thankful to Meghna Ma’am for this opportunity and am positive about long-term engagement.”
Meghna, Heena, Juhi, and Janhvi are a few of the many stories that are constantly engaging with WICCI and benefiting. Spaces like these are significant for women entrepreneurs to grow, and these spaces can become a place where women can talk about specific issues faced by the women only.
While talking to Meghna, we understood that these spaces are conducive for women who are budding entrepreneurs. They can learn from fellow people about different things such as registering your company. These places also act as a resource pool to exchange your skills, bringing many stakeholders under one typical shed.
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