Impact at Scale

The SEWA Bharat Sisters reminded me last weekend of what it really means to work hard, create livelihoods, build a community and help the planet.

My friend Reemaben Nanavaty and the Sisters welcomed us to learn and to be inspired by the women who collect the trash and then recycle it into useful office products, make salt and grow spices and then incorporate them into their bakeries and restaurants, design fabrics and jewelry and then sell it at their shops, bake bricks and then build buildings with it. I was in awe!!!

For anyone who thinks it is impossible to organize three million women to work together in support of inclusive economic prosperity for all, I encourage you to please study and support the important work of SEWA by buying from the Sisters at: https://www.sewa.org/sewa-work/sewas-sister-organizations/

Our time together was a powerful reminder of what it means to be inclusive and why it is so urgent for all of us to leverage our purchasing power in support of a more prosperous and sustainable world.

This special weekend with SEWA was part of a very important WEConnect International Advancing Sustainable Value Chains #IndiaSummit2024 series thanks to the 美国国务院 and their commitment to inclusive trade.

Over 450 government and business leaders joined us in New Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore, along with our outstanding partners from COWE , CII-IWN Telangana , HEN , FICCI FLO , Invest India , Nasscom Foundation #InclusionForAll , US-India Strategic Partnership Forum , SEWA Bharat and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) .

The participating women business owners--including the founders of ACPL Systems , GIFT LINKS INDIA PVT LTD , Nexwave and SuperSeva Global Services Pvt Ltd --were extremely impressive and excited to find ways to do business with each other and the world's industry leaders.

I'm very grateful to all of the innovative women business owners and our member buyers and friends for showing up ready to do business, including leaders from corporations such as 埃森哲 , Allstate , 亚马逊 , Apollo Hospitals , 阿斯利康 , Biocon , 花旗 , Dell Technologies , Diageo , 爱立信 , Glanbia , Granules India Limited , HCLTech , 汇丰 , 印孚瑟斯 , 英特尔 , 强生公司 , 摩根大通 , Kyndryl , 万豪酒店 , Mphasis , Salesforce , Sanofi , SAP , 塔塔咨询服务公司 , Tech Mahindra , 美国联合包裹服务 , Zomato , etc.

I was also inspired by our outstanding keynote speakers such as:

• Ms. Mercy Epao, Joint Secretary for the Ministry of MSME
• Dr. Maina Chawla Singh, Ph.D. Singh, Scholar, Author and Academic Advisor
• Ms. Patricia Lacina , Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy New Delhi
• Ms. Nancy Izzo Jackson , Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S Department of State, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs?
• Ms. Jennifer Larson, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General in Hyderabad
• Hon. Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi, Mayor, Greater Hyderabad MC
• Dr. Shalini Rajneesh , Additional Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner, Government of Karnataka?
• Mr. Christopher W Hodges, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General in Chennai?
• Mr. Mark Stuart , The Female Quotient

Big thanks to each and every person who contributed to this powerful journey in support of impact at scale by Advancing Sustainable and Inclusive Global Value Chains!