Women in Pharma

‘Women in Pharma : Aspire, Lead, Inspire’, an initiative held during the second edition of the India Pharma Week, saw a host of women leaders in senior-management levels, entrepreneurs, and mentors from the pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical industry come together. 

With several global studies pointing to the fact that gender diversity reaps greater financial results, organisations are now increasingly channelizing their efforts towards building a gender rich workforce, with a special focus on women in leadership roles. The percentage of women executive directors in the pharmaceutical industry is only 7.69%. However, with the latest SEBI guidelines on board representation along with an increasing number of women inspired to make a difference, these figures are slowly changing.

A number of discussions dotted the summit with a pulse on practical solutions. Topics covered during the event included Women in Boardrooms: Empowered Women, Empowered Businesses’; How Great Women Lead; Leadership Diversity; Strategies for Strengthening the C+ club; and Breaking the status-quo: Evolving role of women in leadership. The interactions centred around the subject of the evolving role of women leadership in organizations and their quest to inspire and increase their tribe. 

Leading professionals who attended included Sindhushree Khullar, former CEO, NITI Aayog, Savindu Kudrigikar, Business Head (South Asia), Pharma, Food and Medical, Dow Chemical International; Aparna Thomas, Senior Director – Communications & CSR (India & South Asia), Sanofi; Pratima Reddy, Ameera Shah, MD, Metropolis Healthcare and Kanchana TK, Director General, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India and Marina Wyatt, CFO, UBM.