WOMEN: MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN TODAY'S WORLD

Women are the pillars that support the foundation of an organization—bit by bit building the ant-hill. Creating an environ flexible for learning and experimentation. They are the peoples-people, constantly concocting means to please and retain. The concept of human resources took flight in the early 90s with the market unfurling and the inflow of multinationals.

SHALINI SARIN

It’s the jet-setting pace of the industry and Cairn India as a company that keeps the head of human resources, Shalini Sarin’s tempo high. Her work pie for 18 years was an interesting mix of training, consulting, counseling and organization development (OD).

But it was managing a whole organization that she fancied. “I have always been intrigued by what factors beyond the individual make them perform better,” says the mother of two, who stepped into the industry in the late 80s when OD wasn’t an established practice in HR. But with the onset of global practices in the corporate world, her skills became valuable. The move to Cairn in 2006 gave her a chance to explore new opportunities in a growing industry like oil and since then, there has been no turning back.
Tip: Commit and recommit to excellence and learning. Set up personal standards that allow you to gauge your success. Solve business issues in the same dispassionate and determined way as personal problems.

KIRAN MAZUMDAR-SHAW - Biocon Queen

Today, perhaps the country's richest woman, entrepreneur and businesswoman, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw tells us how she makes time for everything.

She started her company, Biocon in a garage with a paltry Rs 10,000 as "capital" in 1978 – no bank would give her a loan to extract enzymes from papaya, her very first Endeavour. In those days biotechnologies was unheard of and even rarer were women entrepreneurs. Today, in a span of 30 years, Kiran is considered to be India's leading businesswoman.

Having to struggle her way to the top also ensured a late marriage – she tied the knot in 1998 with John Shaw, an expatriate manager at Madura Coats and an Indophile from Scotland. John resigned as the managing director of Madura Coats the same year and joined Biocon as its Director for International Business and Vice Chairman of the Board.

With further plans of Biocon's expansion under way, Kiran Shaw is busier than ever... Planning new heists in the world of biotechnology. We ask her how she manages to cull so much out of just 24 hours and balance home and work so perfectly and with such ease.

SUKHINDER SINGH CASSIDY - President, Asia Pacific and Latin America Operations, Google

She scales continents, clocking in thousands of flyer miles, her 22-month daughter in tow. For Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, Google’s Asia Pacific and South America operations president it’s the thrill of fresh challenges, a constant learning curve and managing offices in 18 countries that gets her excited.

Like Villoo Morawala Patel, who started Avesthagen, a bio-tech company, because of a lacuna in the market. She took up the challenge and raised money from family and friends to give shape to her dreams. Each of these power women are bound together by this common theme: a passion to accomplish their goals and follow their dreams. They now stand at the pinnacle of their career and dig into their bag of tricks for the codes to success.

Control over her own destiny has always been Sukhinder Singh Cassidy’s prime motivator. It’s something she learnt from her doctor parents who moved to Canada from East Tanzania when she was a child.

It was this entrepreneurial spirit that drove Cassidy, now Google’s president for Asia-Pacific and Latin America Operations, to move from investment banking to British Pay TV provider BSkyB, and then Amazon before helming Yodlee.com, a solutions provider to the global financial services industry.

RENUKA RAMNATH - MD/CEO, ICICI VENTURES

Her mandate is to create a business that adds value. And just as she strategically tills the worth of different projects at ICICI, Renuka Ramnath, over her 24-year tenure has become a valuable asset to the organization.

She started out with modest expectations after an MBA in finance from Bombay University and later the advanced management programme at Harvard Business School, and with each step has risen up the entrepreneurial ladder.

“Creating new economic value, while being guided by extremely competent people was a great experience,” says Ramnath, who began at a time when few organizations gave women an opportunity at managerial positions. She started at the merchant banking division of ICICI in 1986 and was promoted to the position of MD and CEO of ICICI Ventures in 2001.

ASHU SUYASH - MD and Country Head, Fidelity Fund Management, India

In a world of numbers, balance sheets and net asset values, Ashu Suyash hasn’t just held her own. She has made it to the top of one of the world’s largest mutual fund companies as the managing director and country head of Fidelity Fund Management. “I’ve always wanted to do something which made a difference to people.

Wealth creation fitted the bill because it’s crucial to helping meet one’s financial goals,” says the Mumbai-based Suyash who wanted to study medicine but veered towards a bachelor’s degree in commerce and chartered accounting from Narsee Monjee College at her parents’ suggestion.

When Suyash joined Fidelity after 16 years at Citibank, her office was a hotel room and expectations were high. Five years on, the company has tied up with the State Bank of India to give Fidelity a pan-India reach and plans to expand product offerings, adding new asset classes and using technology to deliver innovation to customers.

SUCCESS MANTRA

A big part of being successful is to be able to delegate responsibility and empower employees instead of clutching at the power strings, the trick is to enthuse employees to want to come to work every day. Have a policy of playing it straight and keeping it simple. Diplomacy has its place but being straightforward helps put people at ease and wins their respect. We need to learn to share this mantra in order to be successful in life. Initially we face all kinds of challenges and struggle a lot but unless we face this, we cannot win in today's world and be a successful woman.