Inspiring women in Business, April 2021.

April 2021
I N D I A
Working Dynamics
Innovative Ways to Make the
Work Environment Vibrant
Cost-effective Measures
Basic Ways to Reduce the Customer
Acquisition Cost in Business
Inspiring
Women
2021
Supriya
Badve
This of
mix
and
willingness
passion me
made
the businesswoman
I now
am
“
“
Executive Director, Badve Engineering Pvt. Ltd
A Dynamic Woman Leveraging
Her Diverse Skillset in Business

Editor's Note
WOMEN IN BUSINESS CHANGING
THE NARRATIVE
reaking the glass ceiling, venturing into
Btraditionally an all-male bastion or male-
dominated field, working shoulder to shoulder
with men, et al are proverbs of the yore. Today’s women
in business face the same challenges as their male
counterparts. The business world has indeed evolved.
However, women do have the advantage of their
natural management and leadership skills. Compassion,
that is inherent in them, tops up as icing on the cake. In
addition, they are balanced individuals. They carry all
these very easily and happily. More women are today
setting up businesses at an astonishing rate and are
being tremendously successful at that.
Astonishing also is the fact that they are balancing their
family and work life with envious ease. It is all about
setting their priorities, giving quality time to both lives
and asserting themselves.
As the world gets flatter by the day, women in business
and leadership positions are also gaining acceptance
globally. Like every other successful entrepreneur, they
are also expected to be competitive, and it goes without
saying that they have been into competition or else
they would not have been where they are today.
Women are known to bring varied attributes to the
workplace and business and bring about positive
changes. The biggest trait that women possess is
emotional intelligence. Today, the world is talking and
focusing on emotional intelligence as an integral part of
leadership, educational institutions are including
emotional intelligence for holistic development from
tender age, and resumes are full of these. While the
entire world expects leaders and team members to
possess these qualities or at least develop them,
women already had it.
The emotional quotient in a woman leader that was
under scanner not so long ago, is today looked up to.
Women have come a long way from breaking the
proverbial glass ceiling to gaining acceptance in all
spheres of life. They are today, on the contrary, most
preferred as leaders and entrepreneurs. Mutual
respect for everyone at the workplace goes a long way
in aiding a balanced ecosystem and is a more rewarding
experience for everyone. It ensures sustainable future
for all.
We at CIO Look India, selected some exceptional
women in business who have been inspiring the world
with their business acumen and leadership skills. As a
tribute to their grit and success, we have featured them
in our latest edition - Inspiring Women in Business, 2021.
We hope you enjoy reading this edition as much as we
did while interviewing these dynamic women. They
have indeed changed the narrative - from conflict to
collaborative.
Have an inspiring read!
Sumita Sarkar
Editor-in-Chief
sumita@insightssuccess.com

Ascent HR
Centrum Wealth
Management
mYngle.com
Manju established herself as a freelancer, and she was not shy
about it at all.
The spirit of creating employment opportunities for a
community was always a draw for Geeta.
Arpita is an excellent leader, who believes in leading by
example.
MyVerduraCare
Atreyi is an innovative individual driven to bring change
through her endeavours.
Marina is a keen language learner and speaks many languages
including Italian, English, French, Dutch, and so on.
Armstrong Capital
and Financial
Services Pvt. Ltd.
Brief
Company Name
LIARA
Opulence Global
Badve
Engineering Ltd.
Shimona is a disruptive marketing and business strategy
professional with over 20 years of experience in aiding Fortune
1000 and startup companies.
Dr. Sheeba did extraordinarily well in her career and got
elevated to higher levels in fast track and won several
accolades in recognition of her hard work and dedication in
finance industry.
Sanaz believes everyone should have the opportunity to thrive.
Life Sciences Practice,
Frost & Sullivan
Ms. Reenita has lived and worked in over 10 countries in the
world, focusing on healthcare issues and working with public
and private sector to implement growth change strategies.
Supriya observes that her personal growth goes along with her
company’s expansion, beyond simple profit numbers.
NA
Arpita Vinay
Co-Head
Marina Togneti
Founder
Manju Mastakar
Director
Geeta Lachireddy
Co-founder and
Chief Operating
Officer
Atreyi Basu
Founder
Featuring
Sanaz Hooman
Senior Vice President
and Chief Designer
Supriya Badve
Executive Director
Shimona Chadha
Business Marketing
Leader
Sheeba
Founder and CEO
Reenita Das
Partner and Senior
Vice President,
Healthcare

Shimona Chadha
Breaking New Grounds in
Marketing Leadership Leveraging
Advanced Technology
Supriya Badve
A Dynamic Woman Leveraging
Her Diverse Skillset in Business
Cover Story
08
08
Marketing Maestro
20
20

Arpita Vinay
An Accomplished Professional
Powering through with the
Strength of Entrepreneurial
Leadership
Atreyi Basu Dr. Sheeba Seeniraja
A Dedicated Entrepreneur
Driven to Protect Earth and
Create a Greener Environment
A Born Leader
Striving for Success
Geeta Lachireddy
A Focused Leader Dedicated
Towards Enhancing Employee
Experiences
Manju Mastakar Marina Togneti
Making a Diﬀerence in the
Financial Management
Space Dynamically
Empowering Business
Professionals through an
Eﬃcient Linguistic Platform
Reenita Das
Rethinking and Creating
Business Models Digitally
for Continuous Healthcare
Anytime, Anywhere
26
26
Articles
Basic ways to Reduce Customer Acquisition Cost in Business
Working Dynamics
Innovative Ways to Make the Work Environment Vibrant
36
36 40
40
44
44 52
52 56
56
60
60
32
32
48
48

CONTENT
Managing Editor Darshan Parmar
Assisting Editor Ananda Kamal Das
Contributing Writer Ashish Chandgude
DESIGN
Visualizer Asha Bange
Art & Design Director Priyanka Rajage
Associate Designer Vishal Pawar
SALES
Operations Head Megha Mishra
Sales Manager Nandan Deshpande
Sr. BDE Pravin Yalameli
TECHNICAL
Technical Head Aditya K.
Technical Consultant Tanaji
April, 2021
Copyright © 2021 CIOLOOK
India, All rights reserved. The
content and images used in
this magazine should not be
reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without prior
permission from CIOLOOK
India. Reprint rights remain
solely with CIOLOOK India.
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I N D I A
SME-SMO
Research Analyst Amol Wadekar
SEO Executive Sujay Bhavsar

Executive Director
Badve Engineering Ltd.
Cover
Story

Being an exemplary
businesswoman is no easy feat,
it requires the confidence to
own who you are, why you do what
you do, and how effectively you use
your vision to create a positive impact
on the world. Needless to say, a
successful woman is self-assured in her
femininity while still willing to learn
and develop which undoubtedly leads
to fruitful outcomes. This fundamental
urge to always keep learning and
evolving is what matters the most. In
every aspect of her life, a woman can
find harmony and perspective. In the
modern age, business-leading women
need to pick up the pace from the get-
go and mark their spot in the ever-
changing and dynamic nature of the
21st century.
course and making countless
significant decisions.
Supriya started her journey with LIC
India in 1991 and continued for seven
years. She was an exemplary student at
school, a career seeker and an
employee, a homemaker, and a mother
of two young adults. Apart from her
PG in M.Sc. (Physics and Digital
Electronics), she was meritorious in
departmental exams. In 1990, the
recession period marked its peak.
At that time, she wished to be a Junior
Scientist at BARC (Bhabha Atomic
Research Centre). But before that, an
opportunistic event occurred which she
productively utilized- to work with
LIC struck her door, and looking at
post-marital challenges, she preferred
LIC and continued working with them
for a few years.
1994 marked the year of her marriage
with Mr. Shrikant Badve, then the
proprietor of Shreeyash Enterprises.
Later, under his leadership & vision the
foundation was laid for Badve
Engineering Group. For about four
Mrs. Supriya Badve, the Executive
Director of Badve Engineering Ltd.,
observed that the people follow the
leaders who are committed, go-getters,
and demonstrative. In life, it is
especially important to learn to do
things the way it works for you but
particularly for women who bear a lot
of the burden of business and home
responsibilities. Though it may not
necessarily be a metric in employee
evaluations, integrity is essential for
the individual and the organization. It’s
especially vital for top-level executives
who are charting the organization’s
OUR PEOPLE ARE
OUR AND
STRENGTH,
REMEMBER
WE
SOCIAL AND
ASPECTS
ENVIRONMENTAL
RESPONSIBILITIES WELL
Cover Story

years, Mrs. Supriya was dedicated to
nurture her children and concurrently
started to work with Shreeyash
Enterprises.
It’s worth praising that she enjoyed her
motherhood and fulfilled her household
responsibilities commendably. In 1998,
she joined Badve Unit (Aurangabad)
where she looked after the accounts,
which was followed by another
glorious event in 2002. She joined the
Badve Engineering Ltd. as a Director
and started looking after the Polymer
Unit at Aurangabad (Maharashtra)
from its inception. So, in a true sense,
the achievements of multi-faceted Mrs.
Supriya Badve never ceased.
It is a noteworthy fact that for the last
20 years, Badve Engineering Ltd. has
made a rapid expansion to 35 units
across pan India.
Dreaming Big
Supriya’s ambition to work in the
engineering field, urge to excel and
dreaming big wakes her up. One of the
most unexpected incidents happened in
her scholarly life. She lost her
admission to engineering with just two
marks which in turn, made a seemingly
huge impact on her life. At that time,
she set her goal and decided that one
day, she would make a career in the
engineering industry and make her
parents proud with people
acknowledging her achievement. With
such grit, talent, and determination, she
has become the iconic businesswoman
of the modern age.
To Supriya’s experience, the right
people at the right place, arranging
finances for the exponential growth
and expansion of the company,
standardization of the system for geo-
diversified locations were some of the
primary challenges she faced while

running the business. Establishing Tier-
II Vendor base, good SCM processes
HR, IR practices, SAP
implementations were some other
hurdles and challenges while working
in the capacity of the Executive
Director.
Other challenges were related to both
technical and administrative
capabilities, lack of good skill sets
required for a particular position,
upward and downward
communications, and other soft skills
required in day-to-day work, but in a
true sense, all of this was overcome by
the shrewd sense and analytical skills
that the person in talk had gathered
over all her years as an emerging
professional.
Positions held by Mrs. Supriya
Badve
• Executive Director of the Badve
Group
• Chairperson of TPM Steering
Committee
• Founder & CEO of Xara Flowers
• Founder & CEO of SportsIndi
• Executive member of AICTE Panel
(Central Sr. Level Experts for
Ministry of Education Innovation
Cell, Govt. of India)
• Member of IACC (Indo American
Chambers of Commerce)
• An Executive Member of MCCIA
(Women Entrepreneurs Committee)
• Charter President of Rotary E-Club of
Pune Diamond (the only performing
e-club in Dist.3131)
• Trustee of ‘Taalyogi Aashram’ by
Pandit Suresh Talwalkar devoted to
Music education.
• President of Editorial Committee of
Brahmakesari
• VP of Shantidoot Pariwar.
• Director of Tanishka Nagari Sahakari
Patsanstha
• Panel member of SAP India.
• Member of Rotary Vaccination
Committee.
AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS:
• Badve Engineering Ltd. is honored
by JIPM TPM International Award in
Japan on 23rd March 2017, March
2020 for its excellent performance in
TPM activities.
• In March 2018 Badve Engineering
Ltd received prestige's JIPM (Japan
Institute of Plant Maintenance)
Awards in Kyoto, Japan under the
guidance of Mrs. Supriya Badve.
• Best Woman Industrialist Award (at
the hands of Arundhati Bhattacharya,
Ex-Chairman of SBI) Rotary
International Award for the Best
President ‟Best Women Entrepreneur
Award (by Dnyaneshwar Mule
Foundation & Bharat Nirman
Foundation)
• “Muktai Award‟ by Yadnyayalk
Ashram
• “Gold Performance Award‟ by Frost
& Sullivan (India)
• Manufacturing Excellence Awards in
2018 Mumbai
• "Gold Certiﬁcate of Merit" by Frost
N Sullivan, India
• Manufacturing Excellence Award in
2019 Mumbai
• Presentation of Badve Engineering
TPM journey at Gurgaon, Delhi,
organized by JIPM Japan.
• A speaker at the National TPM
Conference, arranged by CII at
Chennai, Bangalore.
• Chief Guest at Pune for various
awards functions organized by CII
ACMA (Automotive Components
Manufacturing Association)
• Being a Hindustani Music lover and
respecting Panditji‟s contribution to
Hindustani music, I contributed to
arranging a memorable event tribute
to the Legend “Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
Khayal Yadnya”, recently held at
Pune
Cover Story

Dynamics of Badve Group
OPERATIONS, MISSION, VISION,
AND CORE VALUES
OPERATIONS:
• Badve group of Industries specializes
in Automotive systems and Home
appliances manufacturing with
remarkable expertise in safety-critical
parts like Chassis, Suspension,
Exhaust Systems, Mirror, and several
other products for two-wheeler and
commercial vehicle segments.
• They are a 100% professionally run
family-owned business with an
astounding experience of 32 years and
an admirably good work ethic with a
strong workforce of more than 3500
employees and amassing over 15000
associates. (Blue-collar employees)
• Pan India manufacturing presence
with 30 plants across the country and
associated with some of the major
OEM’s (Bajaj, Hero, Honda,
Mahindra, JLR, Volvo, Royal Enﬁeld,
Tata Motors to mention a few) in the
2W, 4W space with an ever-
expanding global footprint.
INNOVATION
IS GROWTH
MOVING
FORWARD
TO A LARGER
PICTURE

• Capabilities in stamping (450+ press
machines), Welding (400 + robots
with numerous SPMs), 200+
injection molding machines along
with the “best in class” paint
capabilities to ensure complete OEM
satisfaction.
• Achieved sales growth at 17% CAGR
over the past four years with a robust
sales pipeline driving future growth.
• Design and development strengths
are in-house with the remarkable
development of over 1000 tools.
MISSION: To be a leading global
organization with paramount influence
over the supply of world-class
products, thereby meeting customer
schedules of development, validation,
and supply of every product on order,
through relentless and continuous
improvements while partnering with all
stakeholders.
VISION: To globally offer engineering
products through the incorporation of
the inexorable march of new
technology, thus becoming a trusted
brand through customer delight.
CORE VALUES: ‘Excellence’,
‘Innovation’, ‘Team’, and ‘Now’.
The current pandemic affected
businesses worldwide immensely and
Supriya, deterministic and optimistic
as usual took necessary steps to
safeguard her employees while
catering to her clients. It was a real
challenge for her to work in the
pandemic. The business was affected
for the first two quarters, but
reassuringly and slowly picked up.
Few OEM started operations early in
May. Safety, hygiene, and health of
employees were some of the more
bounteous challenges. She appealed to
sanitizing all buses, cafeterias, offices,
factory areas at particular frequencies.
Above all, she covered all her
employees/staff under the COVID19
policy. In the lockdown period when
work from home was then and now in
full swing, the Badve team reached out
to all their 3800 employees via phone,
WhatsApp, and e-mail communication.
Thanks to their endless efforts, the
Badve team insured their employability
rather than recruiting a few people.
Quality HR practices were observed
rigorously in this period too. Also,
virtual get-togethers were arranged to
tackle the new norms.
There are many creative ways Supriya
employed to make the work
environment of Badve Group vibrant.
Good corporate culture, work ethic,
and professionalism were observed in
the group. It is a known fact that
Strategy and Design matter the most in
the group. Annual Business Meet,
Synergy meets, reviews, employing
engagement, CSR activities, intragroup
Kaizen competitions were some major
ways to make the Badve Group vibrant
and instill energy in the employees.
This was an amazing incentive that
resulted in sky-high productivity.
Badve Group has a geo-diversified
presence across India and hence
different cultures and traditions are
being celebrated. Truly Badve
Engineering Group is a unity in
diversity. All different cultures are
being threaded and untied under the
Badve Engineering Group.
The team of the Badve group took the
initiative to celebrate all festivals and
family get-togethers to enrich the
heritage and vivid culture of India. To
encourage women employees, the
ON THE ONE
HAND AM
, I A
BUSINESSWOMAN -
ON THE OTHER,
A AND
WIFE
A .
MOTHER
LIKE MANY
, I HAVE
WOMEN
HAD TO
DISTRIBUTE TIME
AND ATTENTION
BETWEEN
BUSINESS AND
. IT IS
FAMILY
AT ALL
NOT
EASY TO FIND
THAT BALANCE
Cover Story
the employees to resume the work with
all safety norms and provided them
with requisite support and awareness.
Taking matters into her own hands, she
ensured that the business smoothly
went back to its normal state, ensuring
maximum profits whilst fully taking
into consideration the socioeconomic
factors that came into play.
Transportation was doubled for
observing social distancing norms.
Supriya and her team at Badve Group
designed their disinfection channels,

company celebrates Women's Day and
traditional days. It offers a variety of
free training to women, like cooking,
self-defence, personality development,
and other competitions. Safety week is
given the most priority, as it should be.
Safety slogans, safety posters, and
safety rallies for public awareness are
some noteworthy action plans. Primary
health center facility is also being
provided at various locations.
A recent initiative, ‘Badve Group
Musical Night’ is the team’s
charismatic and unique activity. It
identifies good singing talents. It is
well responded to by the employees.
As of today, Badve Group has 35
factories across India and has certainly
influenced business worldwide. Also, it
has left a few footprints on the global
map. In the coming years, Badve
Engineering Group hopes to have a
global presence for the by-overseas
expansion to compete for international
standards. “I want to be amongst the
top industry leaders, establishing a
national and international presence
soon,” concludes Supriya. She
observes that her personal growth goes
along with her company’s expansion,
beyond simple profit numbers. As
Indra Nyooi says, “Performance with
Purpose,” matters most to me.
Other Endeavors are:-
Xara Flowers:
It’s always been a passion for me. After
getting trained in Floriculture from
NIPHT’s HTC, I started ‘Xara
Flowers’ at the Floriculture Park,
Talegaon MIDC. I also had the
opportunity to visit Japan Floriculture
and studied the international market of
flowers. Also,
I N B U S I N E S S 2 0 2 1
Inspiring
W men

1. At Xara, we provide free training to
women farmworkers. (Harvesting,
de-leafing, grading, sorting &
bunching of flowers)
2. With a free accommodation facility
for farmworkers, (60% women
workers) we provided substantially
good employment to them.
3. One can see the World-class Roses
of Xara in the international market
of Japan.
Sportsindi:
I started Sportsindi, the Online Sports
Hub with a glorious aim to connect
people through sports. Development of
SPORTS ECOSYSTEM, hunting
emerging sports talents as well as
supporting them, vocational training
are the focused activities.
‘SPORTSINDI’ is dedicated to the
upliftment of Sports & Sportspersons.
According to Supriya Badve, marked
by her practical hard-headed
intelligence, the essentials of being an
inspiring business leader or business
professional are something that not
only shapes your career but also
elevates you in this ever-progressing
world. She narrates that through years
of experience as a professional, I
observed that the people follow the
leaders who are committed, go-getters.
Demonstrative leadership inspires
people a lot. Moreover, leaders with
good skill sets like effective
communication, ability to delegate,
accountability, loyalty, integrity,
strategy and vision, time management
are well-accepted leadership traits.
With all these prerequisites,
empowering people and understanding
the VUCA world to deliver targeted
results, makes an individual an
exemplary business leader and a
shrewd professional.
Some enlightening messages that she
would like to share with the young
generation of entrepreneurs who are
looking to step foot in a leadership role
in their respective businesses are:-
a) Success is not a tossed coin; you
can’t earn wins instantly. One must
play the game consistently.
b) Entrepreneurship is a series of
events, good & bad, lows & highs. It
requires a lot of patience and analytical
thinking, sometimes to bear the losses
and to continue the journey
overlooking all odds.
Quoting an important sermon from the
holy book Bhagavat Geeta, the young
generation should understand - Be
experimental, be disciplined, be
innovative, be creative, and take efforts
to understand the ins and outs of
Finance and Economy. Financial
knowledge is most important for
establishing and growing the business.
Speaking about innovation, Supriya
Badve has a groundbreaking idea and
philosophy. To me, 'Innovation is
Growth…moving forward to a larger
picture and achieving bigger goals.’ In
Badve Group, we follow TPM (Total
Productive Maintenance) as a QMS
(Quality Management System). For
Badve Engineering Group TPM is a
way of life.“We will continue our
directional good work with
innovations, transparency, and
dedication to excellence and speed, this
is our unquenchable thirst.”
Kaizen means the improvement and it
is the basic element of the TPM. A total
shift in the world view is undeniable
and the modern generation has to
upskill to compete with the thriving
global standards. With continuous
series of the improvement, innovation
automatically gets addressed.
For our best efforts to TPM, our three
units are located at Aurangabad viz.
The plastic unit, the Fabrication unit
has received the highest International
Awards from the JIPM (Japan Institute
of Plant Maintenance) for our TPM
journey.
Looking at the scarcity/ shortage of oil
across the Globe and sky rising prices
of Petrol and Diesel worldwide
innovation has started in Electrical
Vehicles. Auto industries will be going
for a change from their traditional fuel-
oriented technology to eco-friendly
electrical production. This is a great
opportunity for innovators.
Few challenges may be charging
stations for batteries or high-end
infrastructure for EVs. But with
incrementally good vision of the
Government/s in coming years,
infrastructure (including roads &
transports) may grow abundantly. EVs
may transform the auto industry at
large, innovations will embark upon
transformation. Designing has become
a major part of selection criteria from
end customers/ market and the creation
of good designing is the first step of
innovation.
BS6 has already addressed all issues of
pollution and the environment. With
the launch of new initiatives of Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) by the
government paralleled by China’s
challenges of higher labor charges,
many auto industries across the globe
will prefer India as their destination.
This will attract auto businesses across
the world in 2,3 and 4-wheeler
segments.
The bigger advantage in India is 45
percent youth community and huge
market, which is another nice-to-have.
India is going to become an Auto hub
provided innovations, skill
Cover Story

enhancements, R&D; good
infrastructure will undoubtedly be
major focused areas.
In terms of future growth, Mrs. Supriya
Badve has remarkable plans not only
for herself but also for her company.
FOR CEOS
IT'S
TODAY,
ALL ABOUT
ACHIEVING
AND
GROWTH
EFFICIENCY
THROUGH
INNOVATION.
IT'S NOT ABOUT
PRODUCT
INNOVATION
SO MUCH
AS
ANYMORE
ABOUT
INNOVATING
BUSINESS
MODELS,
PROCESS,
AND
CULTURE,
MANAGEMENT

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Shimona
Chadha
Breaking New Grounds in Marketing Leadership
Leveraging Advanced Technology
In a world proliferated with disrupted business models,
rapidly advancing technologies, transformed and
starkly altered consumer behavior, the CMO's role
evolved quickly and permanently. As businesses today work
to recalibrate their product, channel, and demand strategies
in the everchanging multidimensional digital world,
marketing leaders must reimagine their role, discard
redundant processes, overcome thought process linearity
and explore new possibilities and growth paths to continue
to stay relevant.
Shimona Chadha – Business Marketing Leader is a
disruptive marketing & business strategy professional with
over 20 years of experience in aiding Fortune 1000 and
startup companies. She heads a large geographically
distributed team united under a common purpose and aims
to guide, support, and encourage the next generation of
leaders, nurture her client base, and reimagine the customer
experience through the convergence of marketing and
technology.
She is a passionate advocate of women's empowerment in
the corporate workspace and is the co-chair of both the
Women's Empowerment Chapter and the Sales and
Marketing Chapter of the IAOP. She recently co-authored a
book 'The Anatomy of Accomplishment, which quickly
became a bestseller on Amazon. In her book, Shimoma
encourages the younger generation to strive to become their
best version by demystifying their motivations, uncovering
Be like an
ATHLETE, competing
against your own
BEST TIMES instead
of trying to trip up the
PEOPLE that you're
RUNNING WITH.
“
“
MARKETING MAESTRO

Shimona Chadha
Business Marketing Leader
their passion, and discovering what they want to achieve –
the change they want to make and the value they can
deliver.
Heading towards Growth and Positive Change
Growing up in a military family helped reinforce some
valuable skillsets early in her life – a willingness to take
risks, speak up about her thoughts and beliefs, persistence,
need for achievement, the importance of resilience, and a
strong work ethic. Her parent's hardworking ethos led her to
discover her purpose in life – to strive to build a legacy and
not just to do a job.
Inspired by the ambitious and intelligent people around her,
she feels energized by being a part of a team of diverse
individuals working towards a shared goal.
She believes that every day is a brand-new day to grow,
make a tangible business impact, and empower people. One
must feel excited to have challenges as they help sharpen
our grit and play a crucial role in shaping who we are. C.S
Lewis summarized it well when he said, "Hardships often
prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny."
I'm very AMBITIOUS,
but my FUTURE SUCCESS
isn't limited just to
PERSONAL GROWTH.
I want to pay it
forward and pass on
my SKILLS and
LEARNINGS to the
LEADERS of the FUTURE.
“
“

Mentioning a book of former England rugby coach Sir
Clive Woodward's 'How to win' inspired her to realize that
winning was not about building the team with the best
players – it was about building a team full of skilled
energizers. The book was about how he borrowed the
concept of sappers and energizers from the Royal Marines.
Sappers take energy away from a team, while energizers
provide it.
Inspiring leaders have integrity, are authentic, and lead with
vision, purpose, humility, and compassion. Such leaders are
known to set an essential cultural tone of educating,
mentoring, and inspiring, thereby infusing energy, passion,
and commitment. They can make quick decisions consistent
with their high standards of ethics and integrity while
simultaneously putting their employees first and giving
them the tools they need.
Father Bill Atkinson, a paraplegic teacher, once said, "I
can't touch or feel someone's hand, but I can touch and feel
someone's heart." In today's distanced work environments,
that is what inspirational leaders do – they touch people's
hearts.
It is also essential for leaders to take ownership of their
project and their employees, share their victories and
defeats, and give credit where credit is due. It is necessary
to show leadership when times
are tough and exhibit courage
and fortitude when their
decisions may not be popular at
the time.
A big part of leadership comes
down to authenticity and being
yourself. That is why it is so
important to be passionate
about what you do. If you can
bring passion and purpose into
the workplace, you will
automatically be an inspiration
to anyone else who aligns with
your vision.
Shimona's career as a
Marketing Leader in HCL has
been an adventure with broad
and diverse experience across
fourteen divisions which
helped her grow both as a
leader and as a person. Witnessing her team members'
passion who have embodied the ethos of – Think Bigger,
Be Different, and Bring Value.
During her years at HCL as a revenue marketer, she has
been an integral part of its growth journey from $2.7 billion
to $10 billion. HCL is today India's 3rd largest information
technology services player and one of the fastest-growing
large global technology companies. Shimona's career
journey spans five industries and two continents. She has
won multiple awards, helped create new markets and
categories, and works in advisory board positions in several
innovative tech startups.
She is also actively involved with coaching high school
students, advising early-stage startups, and fostering
inclusivity across HCL's clients and partner ecosystem. As
businesses reinvent in response to shifts in consumer
behavior, leaders must continue to be curious, adaptable,
and innovative.
Embracing the disruption, discarding redundant processes,
and exploring new growth paths can help marketing leaders
deliver growth and exceptional brand value and emerge as
customer champions and stewards to stitch the
organization's cultural fabric.

Risk and Reevaluation in Pandemic
COVID-19 has shown how vital technology is to our lives,
and it is likely that the societal changes that we have gone
through will continue into the foreseeable future. This
means that people will feel more empowered than ever to
do distance work, while corporations and governments will
rethink their tech priorities. Digital and contactless
technologies will become the norm, while consumers'
preferences will continue to evolve.
The pandemic has also highlighted the need for companies
to safeguard both employees and clients. Leaders of all
types need to reimagine their organization across many
dimensions like location-agnostic work approach, enhanced
cloudification and virtualization, modernizing applications
with automation and intelligent data, and comprehensive
end-to-end security.
With employees in all corners of the world, one of our
biggest challenges was communicating change to ensure
that all employees had a common perspective on our
COVID best practices. We created an executive crisis
management team and focused on being fast and factual.
Time was of the essence, and our role was to take the latest
best practices from the global health bodies and regional
governments and communicate them as clearly as we could
to our employees and clients.
It has been a privilege to watch so many passionate and
talented people thriving in a dynamic industry. The
pandemic has thrown that passion and talent into focus by
motivating people to think outside the box to address
business continuity and business growth while enabling and
safeguarding the interests of our employees.
The Anatomy of Accomplishment - Your Guide to Bigger,
Better, Bolder Business Results
Think Bigger. Be Different. Bring Value.
• Think Bigger: Be ambitious in the scale of change you
think is possible.
• Be Different: You cannot create a legacy by blending in.
• Bring Value: Anyone can fill a slot, but those who bring
value will be valued.
The only REAL METRICS
are the GOALS you set
for yourself. You must
AIM FOR GOALS that
others dare not set,
seek out CHALLENGES,
and find MOTIVATION in
PURPOSE that you strongly
feel for.
“
“

S
uccessful businesswomen truly believe in
themselves and are very ambitious. They are
confident about their actions and decisions and
are always passionate about what they do. These
leaders are humble and are always willing to work hard
and learn from others. Such dedicated and inspiring
women do not give up at the face of adversity and
always stay focused on achieving their goals.
One such prominent businesswoman who is making
major strides in the industry is none other than Arpita
Vinay, the Co-Head of Centrum Wealth Management.
She is an excellent leader, who believes in leading by
example. In an interview with Insights Success, Ms.
Arpita shares about her journey, inspiration, struggles,
achievements, and future goals.
Following are the excerpts of the interview:
1. Describe your professional journey as an inspiring
business professional.
I grew up in Bokaro, an industrial city in the state of
Jharkhand and which houses one of the largest steel
plants of SAIL. Post my engineering studies, I first
worked as an engineer for Tata Steel at their
Jamshedpur plant before taking my MBA. I literally
started out on the shop floor and was one of the very
few women in the steel plant then. I handled a team of
about 40 employees, almost all roughly double my age
or more. I think that was amongst the best experiences
in leadership that I could ever have had. Women were
not and perhaps are still not greatly welcome in those
types of plants. It was challenging, but rather
interesting and exciting.
Post completion of MBA in Finance from FMS, Delhi, I
joined HSBC. At HSBC, my career progression was
exceptional. I was assigned roles and responsibilities
which were ahead of time and which helped me to
groom myself as a professional.
Before joining Centrum, I was the Head of Premier
Banking at HSBC and was responsible for managing
one of the largest affluent banking propositions in the
country. I left HSBC to be part of the founding team of
Centrum Wealth Limited. At HSBC India, I was rated
among the top 3% of employees with an EDC
(Executive Development Centre) Ranking of 1 in 2010
and identified as a part of the Country Talent Pool.
Vinay
Arpita
An Accomplished Professional
Powering through with the Strength
of Entrepreneurial Leadership

2. Who inspires you to wake up every day and keep
making a difference in the industry?
There are many people who have inspired me both
personally and professionally. I have had the privilege of
knowing some of them and interacting and working
closely with them. Reading is a passion and I have a
natural interest in reading biographies and accounts of
interesting and successful personalities. I try to learn and
imbibe whatever I find useful and inspiring. One such
person who has inspired me immensely is Ms Arundhati
Bhattacharya, ex chairperson of State Bank of India. It is
a matter of great pride for me that she also did her
schooling in Bokaro, a relatively small place and rose to
become a titan in the banking and financial services
industry. The sheer range of responsibilities that she
handled over her 36-year stint with the bank and the
scale of her achievements are simply awe inspiring. To be
ranked and be featured among the most powerful
women and professionals in the world –I find her life and
work something to emulate and aspire for.
3. As the Key Executive Personality of company, what
challenges have you faced while running the business?
Setting up a business in an extremely competitive
landscape and with large, well-entrenched and blue-
blooded institutions as competitors was indeed
daunting. Despite this we have been able to build a
business of material scale and a well-accepted/regarded
market presence from the time we started up.
Inspiring Women in Business 2021
“
I try to learn and
imbibe whatever I
find useful and
inspiring
I was part of the founding team at Centrum Wealth and
the firm is now into its tenth year of business.
As Co-Head of Centrum Wealth, I have been
responsible for providing strategic direction to the firm
and taking the firm to a leading position in the business.
I have helped conceptualize and successfully execute
some of the very significant growth initiatives and an
array of proposition enhancements at the firm. Most
notable among them include Centrum's Family Office
Business that provides a comprehensive one-stop
investment management, wealth planning,
administration and structuring, tax and legal advisory,
corporate solutions, philanthropy, and CSR
opportunities. Centrum Wealth was recently chosen by
Private Banker International (PBI) for the prestigious
Best Family Office Award at their 30th Annual Private
Banker International Global Wealth Awards 2020. I
also seeded the Structured and Alternate products
business line, an area where the firm has established
solid credentials and where the business has grown
manifold in the firm's short existence. I also helped set
up the offshore businesses for Centrum Wealth office
in Singapore. As an Executive Director on the
company's board, I have been part of the core team that
steered the firm from the venture to growth stage in
the very competitive wealth management space.
I am also an Independent Director on the board of the
West Coast Paper Mills Ltd (WCPM), one of the largest
paper manufacturers in the country. I have received
several awards and recognitions for my work and
contribution. I was featured among India's Top 100
“Women in Finance” - 2019 presented by AIWMI. I was
a winner of the Women Super Achievers Award in the
field of Finance by the World Women Leadership
Congress in Feb 2017. I was recognized by the Business
Sight Magazine as one of the “BS the 10 Successful
Businesswomen to Watch In 2019 for her contribution
in Indian Business “.
I take active interest in estate and succession planning
and am a member of the Indian chapter of STEP, an
international body of trust and estate planning
professionals and the International Tax Planning
Associates (ITPA). I am also a regular speaker in wealth
management, family office and alternative product
forums and seminars.
“

Also, the initial years while setting up our business and
the journey of transition from survival-thinking to
growth thinking had its own set of challenges. As part of
this, we had to manage the delicate balance of building
formal structures and processes and institutionalizing
the business while at the same time ensuring the
cohesiveness and collegiate work culture and the agility
and dynamism of a start-up.
This has been a quasi-entrepreneurial journey and the
adversity that is faced during the start-up stage and as
an emerging company must be navigated with
enormous passion, patience, belief and resilience.
Also coming from a large format and an established
institution with global standards and where I worked
through template KRAs and systems in place to a
completely unstructured format and dealing with
everything from scratch, putting method into madness,
getting from the embryonic stage to start up stage to
growth stage and finally creating a stable organization
– the journey continues of navigating uncertainty.
4. Brief us about the operations of organization its
mission, vision, and core values.
Centrum Wealth is less than a decade old and has been
growing its client base and assets under management
apace for many of those years. Today we provide
comprehensive wealth management services to HNWIs
and family offices and the asset management business
offers funds across private debt, public equity, venture
capital and real estate. It is part of the Centrum Group,
a well-known financial services group founded in 1997.
The roughly 250-strong Centrum Wealth team
operates today from 16 locations, including Singapore,
and handles AUM equivalent of around USD3.5 billion.
Across all the products and offerings that Centrum's
wealth team provides, from plain vanilla equities and
fixed income offerings to private and alternative assets,
structured products, real estate offerings and
extending further to some other key adjacent areas,
there is a depth of expertise and experience in the team
that is extremely formidable in the business.
Our mission is to sustain a meaningful presence in the
lives of our customers on the strength of our ideas,
solutions, and services in and around the area of his/her
wealth and finances.
Our vision is to be the most recommended wealth firm
in the country; built with the customer at the core;
powered by employee ownership and pride and
committed to create sustainable value for our
customers, employees, and shareholders.
As a logical corollary, we are driven by our core values
of integrity, transparency, empathy, resourcefulness,
perseverance, and a deep sense of responsibility.
5. How has the current pandemic affected your
business and what steps have you taken to safeguard
your employees while catering to your clients?
2020 was one heck of a ride with extreme panic setting
in around March last year and then a remarkable
turnaround later in both sentiment and asset values.
The difficulty today for customers is the anemic yields
for conservative investors and the volatility related
concerns for growth investors.
With such low rates and unmatched levels of liquidity
globally and fears of impending volatility, we have
needed to pay much greater attention to and thus work
with significantly enhanced rigor and caution while
looking at markets, products, and portfolios. While
there are likely to be challenges with the assumptions
and the intrinsic framework, the need for discipline
with regards to asset allocation is probably the highest
in today's times.
There has always been phenomenal potential and
opportunity in the Indian wealth management arena
based on whichever angle you want to look at it – be it
the huge demographic advantage, the untapped and
latent growth potential of the economy or just the
robust wealth creation witnessed over the years. We
tend to agree with the emerging view that this could be
India's decade and there are several factors that seem
to point towards India doing extremely well over the
coming years. We are very excited about the very high
and growing levels of investor interest in India and
many positive trends and signals that can be seen and
evidenced. We think we are extremely well placed to
harness this huge opportunity.”
Another key trend is consolidation in the wealth
industry, partly driven by competition and partly by
regulation. The economics of the business today are

such that if you don't have a minimum size, survival
might be tough. So, we are witnessing consolidation
amongst the smaller individual or lower-scale advisors.
As a growing wealth firm, we are seeing clients driving
this consolidation to some extent as they want access
to a broader universe of asset classes and products and
to take a more holistic view of their portfolios. We find
ourselves extremely well placed in terms of this
opportunity.
All these trends were evolving before the pandemic but
would have taken some years to emerge to this degree,
and so too digitization, which universally has been
adopted at far great speed by providers and clients
alike, out of necessity. A lot has been said on this
subject – we think it has been transformational for all of
us. The opportunities and efficiencies, both
realized, and potential are just phenomenal.”
As far as employees concerned, being an
employee-owned firm means that everyone is a
stake holder and significantly inputs into and
contributes to the firm's thinking. During this
difficult phase, we have actively encouraged and
supported work from home. In 2020 we launched
iConnect, an internal collaborative platform for
internal teams working together. And also
launched 'One Paper Lane', for paperless
onboarding of clients, as well as '360-degree
view', which gave the Relationship Managers and
the clients in one click the entire access to
portfolios. These launches were fast-tracked, and
in normal circumstances might have taken much
longer. These initiatives including several others
to help the team in customer acquisitions,
customer onboarding, learning and development,
customer engagement and handholding as also
customer feedback have equipped teams to
remotely manage their client requirements in a
much more effective manner.
6. What creative ways have you employed to
make the work environment of company
vibrant?
Nearly a decade after starting up, almost the
entire core team is still with Centrum. With a
long-term approach, with the right talent and
empowerment and the right alignment, we have
not needed to micromanage or pressure; so, our people
have been able to chart their own professional paths
within the firm with an entrepreneurial or owner mind-
set and with dignity and responsibility.
Although we have obviously grown very robustly and
have ambitious growth plans, we have instilled a culture
that we believe helps people get the best out of
themselves and therefore offer their best to the firm.
And that is why we have stuck together so well.
We are not a big brand, but we have been successful in
attracting talent from the bigger banks and financial
firms on the strength of our culture within the firm –
that is entrepreneurial, nurturing, and collaborative and
the opportunity for them to realize their potential by
Arpita Vinay
Co-Head
Centrum Wealth
Management

being a part of us. This, I believe has encouraged the
best talent to join and partner us in building and
growing our franchise. We have been very successful in
building this deep domain of expertise and experience.”
We deeply believe that our success in establishing
Centrum Wealth as a credible brand has also been
made possible on the strength of the sheen of so many
'individual' brands that are part of us. We feel very
proud about this and are totally committed to
supporting and building these 'individual' brands -
through ongoing training and upskilling
engagements as also periodic interventions
like constituting cross-functional project
teams, recognizing, and mentoring emerging
leadership and formal one-one coaching to
work on personal and professional areas of
development.
This has naturally led to a strong sense of
ownership, collaboration, and the desire to
contribute beyond conventional role
definitions within the firm. We are very
committed to this critical area and we are
working on some key initiatives to take this to
the next level.
7. According to you, what are the essentials
of being an inspiring business leader or
business professional?
The first and foremost thing that comes to my
mind is that one must be possessed with a
deep sense of purpose and passion to pursue
the dream for the business or the firm. More
importantly the leader should be able to
clearly articulate and align every single
person within the firm towards the goal or
dream. While the inspirational side is critical, I
do believe that finally it is a lot about the skill
and conviction to execute and bring in
method to the execution.
Next comes the ability to align all key stake
holders and create a fertile substratum for
win-win situations – with customers,
employees, providers of capital to name the
key stakeholders. It cannot work if all these pieces do
not fit in perfectly.
An inspiring business leader must play to and leverage
the firm's unique strengths and build differentiation
and customer value around these strengths. Each one
of us in the senior team at Centrum Wealth has had at
least a couple of decades of experience in some critical
domains across large formats. With this background,
we came together and have been able to engineer a
platform that is intrinsically solid but serves as a

boutique that is nimble, responsive and contemporary.
There are many other essentials, but I do want to talk
about creating and nurturing a culture that intrinsically
energizes people and drives them to realize their full
potential. At Centrum we are extremely committed to
fostering and nurturing that DNA or culture –
something that has had a significant contribution to our
growth and success.
8. What would you like to share with the young
generation of entrepreneurs who are looking to step
foot in a leadership role in their respective
businesses?
I would like to build this response on top of what I have
talked about in the earlier section on essentials for
being an inspiring business leader or professional.
To think of it from my own personal example, I find
myself in a small but gradually growing pool of leaders
who have successfully embraced entrepreneurial
leadership. This effectively means creating and having a
shared vision with one's team and aligning efforts and
execution towards the common goal or dream. This
involves taking complete ownership and responsibility
and going far beyond templated JDs (job descriptions)
or KRAs. This also involves stepping significantly out of
comfort zones and staking it completely towards the
larger dream and goals.
I also think that as a professional and as a leader one
has to very carefully manage to strike a delicate balance
between when to blend in and when to stand up / stand
out. Blending in is critical and at various points it must
be done in the interest of preserving the core of the
firm and its DNA. A leader's conduct must be consistent
with and consistently nurture the culture of the firm.
At the same time, I encourage the young generation of
entrepreneurs to stand up/stand out in various
situations where one needs to follow through
conviction and do what one firmly believes is right –
even if this entails charting a course for the team
through relatively unconventional and untested areas.
Of course, this has to be backed up by a strong
feedback and objective/regular assessments of
progress and outcomes and with the necessary course
corrections.
9. In terms of future growth, where do you see
yourself and your company?
As I said earlier, we find ourselves extremely well
placed in terms of proven domain strengths and a well-
entrenched market presence despite our relatively
young vintage. We are moving the firm towards the
next orbit in terms of growth and market presence (and
with now an offshore presence footprint) where all our
engines are fully powered up and functioning in a stable
manner.
We see ourselves becoming more proficient and
productive. We aspire to be featured among top 3 most
well-regarded wealth firms from a customer
perspective. We also aim to become a more diverse
organization with significant growth in market share in
the domains that we operate in and with a growing
brand equity in each of those domains.
We see the firm doubling its AUM to the equivalent of
USD7 billion within the coming three years by
expanding and making even more relevant its product
offering, by enhancing the range of services, further
investing in its technology and digital capabilities and
all at the same time maintaining the culture and
collegiate environment. The key mission ahead is to
build more and better offerings to fit the key and
evolving market trends; we want to build the team by
another roughly 25%, and in terms of propositions and
businesses, the multifamily office space, alternative
assets, expansion of the Singapore office and also
further building out the asset management business,
providing enhanced portfolio solutions in a cost-
efficient, aligned, compliant and transparent manner.
Another key mission is to work more intensely to
leverage the expertise, reach and products that
Centrum as a financial services group has to offer.
Centrum has a foot in the door in all the relevant areas
of financial services, whether lending or investment
banking, corporate finance, insurance, and structured
credit. We can work even more closely and more
collaboratively to become so much more relevant to
clients on both their personal and corporate
requirements.

Basic ways to Reduce
Acquisition Cost in Bu

e Customer
usiness
For any company, it is essential that they employ
efficient marketing strategies. A good way to
measure your advertising strategies is the customer
acquisition costs (CACs). It also helps them to make sure
whether their overall marketing has been a success or a
failure. Accordingly, lower CAC = more customers =
additional ROI.
Ideally, there is no standard procedure to determine
whether a CAC is good or bad. CAC depends on various
factors such as the industry the company belongs to and
the lifetime value of the customer. Every company should
make sure that their CAC stays below the target CAC.
They can benefit from the following strategies of keeping
the CAC low:
Correct Calculation of CAC
A CAC is calculated on the basis of the total sales and
marketing cost divided by total number of new customers.
Companies should start off with a target CAC; this will
help them to earn a positive return on investment. It can
further help in setting a benchmark for their sales and
marketing efforts. For new businesses, looking into
average CACs for their industry will be helpful. They
should spend some time in calculating a reasonable CAC.
This will help them to bring in more profits.
Retargeting is of Utmost Importance
Companies can bring back users and have an excellent
CAC by utilizing retargeting tools such as Google Ads and
Facebook Ads. These two channels can be combined to
reach out the audience at every step, while increasing the
possibility that they will convert. Companies can use the
remarketing lists for search ads offered by Google Ads.
Retargeting can help in obtaining new customers at a
reasonable CAC in case the company does not have
sufficient budget to run intent-based ads.
Strong Google Ad Campaigns are Effective
Search campaigns usually do not have any specific design
or way. However, several best practices help in optimizing
user experience and improve conversion rates. For
example, usage of targeted keywords, ad copy, and
landing pages can help in gathering more target audiences.
Usage of strong keywords such as ‘crm free trial’ than
only ‘crm’ can be more effective. The ad copy should have
the keywords in the headline and description text, while
the landing page should have ‘free trial’ mentioned clearly.
This procedures lead in cohesive messaging, which in
turn, helps in getting new customers.

Testing the Ad Copy
A version of the company’s ad copy
can provide it with good results.
However, it can enhance those results
by optimizing the copy. Keeping track
of the click-through rates can help in
identifying how its best-performing ads
are different from the ads that do not
perform so well.
Companies can remove their low-
performing ads and create varied ad
copies which are similar to the stronger
ads, in terms of style and language.
They can reduce CAC for the long
term by constantly improving and
optimizing aspects of paid media.
Testing Creativity
Companies which are using visual
platforms such as Facebook Ads for
promoting their products can go
through the click-through rates,
conversion rates, and post engagement
to test the creative elements of their
ads. As per the results, they can further
add some creative testing to their
marketing strategy, for example, with
contrast, illustration, color, live images,
and so on.
Improving the Conversion Rates
Companies can use the Google Ads
side to improve their conversion rates
through themed ad groups. Depending
on the expenditure on search
campaigns, they can also quickly
improve their conversion rate by
adding negative keywords to their
Google Ads campaign once or twice a
week.
Upgrading Customer Retention Rates
Customer retention rate measures how
well a company is retaining its
customers. Accordingly, when it adds
new customers without losing the
existing ones, the CAC does not
increase. Customer retention rates can
be improved through a few different
strategies such as deeply analyzing
customer churn, which will help in
answering the questions, why are
customers churning out and what can
be done to prevent it?
Using Marketing Automation
Marketing automation techniques such
as lead nurture or email drip can also
help in reducing CAC. For example,
promoting a free trial or white paper
through paid media efforts, and then
using the emails acquired in lead
nurture can be an effective strategy.
This action can add further value to the
leads and a strong nurture workflow
can convert those leads into paying
customers.
Optimizing the Funnel
Through Google analytics, companies
can understand the behavior flow
throughout their web pages and can
figure out where exactly the users are
dropping off. This data will help them
to improve landing pages, website
copy, and so on.
Customer acquisition and retention is
very important for any company. It
helps them to establish themselves in
the completion, and grow as an entity.
The above-mentioned strategies can
surely help in reducing customer
acquisition costs and implementing
them will help companies to improve
their return on investment.
- Ananda Kamal das

Inspiring women leaders spearhead their company with
dedication and confidence. They lead by example and are
driven by the zeal to make a difference through their
dedicated endeavors. These leaders do not give up at the face
of adversity and always come up with innovative solutions to
every problem. These inspiring leaders are quick thinkers,
passionate, and goal driven.
They are compassionate and goal driven and lead their team
to growth and prosperity. One such impactful businesswoman
who is transforming the face of business through her unique
approach is Atreyi Basu, the Founder of MyVerduraCare.
She is an innovative individual driven to bring change
through her endeavours.
In an interview with CIO Look India, Ms. Atreyi talks about
her journey, experiences, struggles, and future plans.
Following are the excerpts from the interview between
Insights Success and Ms. Atreyi Basu:
Describe your professional journey as an inspiring
business professional.
I started my professional career as a management intern with
Unilever India studying 3 major detergent brands. My love for
going into the details of a product’s life cycle and its branding
process started during this time. As my career progressed, I
moved on to work for the marketing division handling various
roles for major brands spread across diverse industries in
India, like media, banking, and finance.
After my successful stint in India, I moved abroad and for
more than a decade worked in the global market in the
banking, transportation, and media industry leading and
managing marketing and brand communication roles for some
leading brands in the Middle East. At the back of my mind, I
always wanted to do something of my own, build a brand
with a bigger purpose, generate employment, and share my
extensive global professional experience of almost two
decades.
I am a nature lover since childhood and was also part of the
nature club in high school. So, the calling was always there,
and it finally took over in mid-2018 when I ultimately left my
corporate job and conceived the idea of MyVerduraCare.com.
‘Verdura’ - literary means greenery. Through this name our
brand evokes our core values of promoting eco-friendliness,
sustainability, and renewability.
Who inspires you to wake up every day and keep making
a difference in your industry?
I look up to anyone who is self-made, who has carved an
inspiring story from scratch and empowering their nation and
the society through their work. I derive inspirations at
different levels. I am inspired by perseverance, I am inspired
by tenacity, I am inspired by honesty, I am inspired by
empathy, I am inspired by intelligence.
My aspirations and my passion to build what I have started is
Atreyi Basu
A Dedicated Entrepreneur Driven to Protect Earth and Create a Greener Environment
Atreyi Basu
Founder

what inspires me every morning when I open my eyes. I want
MyVerduraCare to not just be a regular marketplace from
where people can buy and sell products. I want
MyVerduraCare to be remembered as a brand with human
emotions connecting with the society at various levels and
creating value.
As the key personality of your company, what challenges
have you faced while running the business?
When you are starting something of your own it is obvious to
face challenges and obstacles at various levels, especially
when you are investing your own blood, sweat and money. It
gets even further challenging when you are doing that without
any Godfather and external investors. The reason why I did
not look for external investors at the beginning is because I
wanted to build it on my own and bring it to a level where we
would be proud to welcome new members on board.
Running a business is always full of challenges. Every day
you might come across some new challenges but for me, I
love to take them head on, and this is what has always excited
me to put in the extra efforts and work harder. As the founder
of a start-up when you are working with a small team, the
level of efficiency, meeting deadlines, skillset, being alert and
attentive are particularly important factors.
I believe in staying involved in every aspect to make sure
things are running smoothly, my people are getting the right
tools and environment to perform their jobs, our customers
are well taken care of and our stakeholders are happy. As the
head of the organization, it is my responsibility to make sure
that whatever may be the challenges, there is a solution to
overcome them and take the responsibilities of the results.
Brief us about the operations of your company, its
mission, vision, and core values.
With our head office in India, we operate globally. We are a
bunch of overly enthusiastic eco-warriors who believe in the
famous saying of Dalai Lama – “It is our collective and
individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the world in
which we live.” www.MyVerduraCare.com is a multi-award-
winning online platform for curated premium eco-friendly,
sustainable, handmade, and artisanal products.
The core of establishment of MyVerduraCare.com is to
cultivate a greener environment for every inhabitant of our
Mother Earth through eco-friendly products and sustainable
habits. From non-violent silk to bamboo-based personal care
items, organic cotton interlock rompers to wood-based toys
and sustainable designer wear and accessories to cruelty free
skincare and organic or vegan food products.
All the products displayed in our website have the similar aim
- to provide you with an opportunity to be an eco-warrior. Our
aim is to generate awareness on the entire concept of
sustainable living practices starting from the beginning till
end, bringing our community of makers and entrepreneurs
together at a global level and providing them with all the
technological, logistics, marketing support to grow their
business along with us at a global level. We live by our
mission - MyVerduraCare.com - a step towards a greener,
sustainable, and empowered world.
How has the current pandemic affected your business and
what steps have you taken to safeguard your employees
while catering to your clients?
I always love looking at the positive side of situations. The
pandemic has brought us even closer. We worked from
various locations but worked efficiently, on time and with a
high level of customer satisfaction. Being in the online space
with nature- friendly products, we experienced a considerable
increase in our sales and traffic. Safeguarding our employees
while looking after the safety and requirements of our
customers and partners is the most important thing for us. We
allowed work from home with flexible working hours and in
specific cases and functions where physical presence is
needed, we took necessary precautions and measures to
follow the safety guidelines.
We were one of the only online platforms last year who
shipped essential products to all customers in India free of
ALK
THE
QUALITY of an
THE ESSENTIAL
INSPIRING
LEADER
is WALKING
“
“
INSPIRING WOMEN IN BUSINESS 2021

shipping charges during the entire period of lockdown. Where
others were charging extra, we shipped for free. We stood
beside our sellers and with the support of our delivery
partners and permission from the authorities, we kept taking
orders of essential products and kept giving express shipping
to all buyers.
I believe the values of your organization is lived and the
human side of your brand is revealed by how you are dealing
with a crisis and providing value to the community and
society at large during extremely trying times. We did not talk
big, we did it when it was most needed.
Along with our logistics partners who are globally recognized
service providers, we took all necessary measures as per
WHO and Govt. guidelines to make sure we provide sanitized
and contactless delivery and keep our customers aware of the
deliveries and the necessary measures while collecting the
packages.
What creative ways have you employed to make the work
environment of the company vibrant?
As shared in the beginning, I believe in passion, perseverance,
honesty, empathy, respect for time and a willingness to learn.
These are ‘the’ most important qualities I look for while
hiring. Yes, educational degrees and experience matters, but
for me, these qualities matter even more. So, if you think you
have these qualities and can contribute, our doors are open for
you.
The work environment at MyVerduraCare is stress free. Stress
reduces productivity and I want my people to be happy and
proud of our brand. They should feel happy within, so when
they meet the external world, they could be the ambassadors
of our brand. I am always approachable and open to hearing
new ideas and take feedback. We have hired young talents and
worked with diverse groups of people from various parts of
India, and we have worked on special projects with talents
from couple of international locations too.
I am here to build an organization which is diverse and
inclusive in its truest sense. If you can contribute to the
growth of my company honestly and dedicatedly, I absolutely
do not care about your gender, background, race, ethnicity,
caste, religion, or physical disabilities. The core aspect of our
team is respect. Respect for each team member, partners,
customers, and the environment.
According to you, what are the essentials of being an
inspiring business leader or business professional?
A business leader is respected and inspired by not just leading
a billion-dollar business empire. You become an inspiration if
you live the values of your company and set an example by
leading the path. To me the essential quality of an inspiring
leader is walking the talk. What you expect your team to do
ﬁrst do it yourself and set the example and standards.
Second is being empathetic towards your team, customers,
surroundings, and each stakeholder. I can tell from my
personal experience that a lot of challenges could be resolved
if you are empathetic in your verbal and non-verbal
communications. Your personal values must reﬂect in your
company values.
Third is the tenacity to keep going on with the same
enthusiasm and positivity both during highs and lows. I look

up to leaders who are institutions in themselves, like Mr.
Ratan Tata, Mr. Anand Mahindra or Mr. Bill Gates who are
perfect examples of inspiring business leaders and from
whom each one of us can draw inspiration.
What would you like to share with the young generation of
entrepreneurs who are looking to step foot in a leadership
role in their respective businesses?
My advice to all young and budding entrepreneurs would be –
just believe in yourself and your ideas. Be honest and kind to
yourself and with the people you deal with and work hard,
extremely hard because someone somewhere might be
working harder than you to achieve their dreams. To all
budding women entrepreneurs I want you to never think that
you lack anything for being a woman.
No, you do not. If your ideas are powerful, you believe in
them with conviction, have garnered the required skills then
just go with it and launch it. Stay positive always. There
might be plenty of obstacles, challenges, and negativity. Just
keep focused, stay strong, positive, love and respect yourself,
have faith and go on.
In terms of future growth, where do you see yourself and
your company?
We have larger expansion plans in the coming years and
expanding our global portfolio while generating better brand
awareness in the Indian market. We are working hard on our
future plans and with time I will deﬁnitely be sharing it with
you and the world each milestone.
Eyes on the Prize
MyVerduraCare is a multi-award-winning platform. Our awards are:
i) We have been awarded twice last year by the MSME Chamber of Commerce and Industries of India as the Most Socially
Responsible Brand of the Year and another award for The Brand Contributing to A Clean India and Green India.
ii) MADCon Global awards as the 100 most promising start-ups in Asia contributing to innovative marketing.
iii) India5000 Awards for Start Ups with Quality Excellence.
We are also connected to Society for Indian Children’s’ Welfare, Kolkata and work with them for sponsoring the higher education
of underprivileged children in India. We have collaborated with Artemis Foundation a recognized NGO who works for the
development of rural artisans, work against human traﬃcking and make the victims employable by teaching them the right skill
sets. All these products made by these people are featured on our both platforms under ‘Shop for a cause’ section and people from
anywhere in the world can explore and shop them and get it delivered to their doorsteps.

Every woman has her own secret ingredients to
success. Dr. Sheeba Seeniraja’s journey as an
entrepreneur is definitely unique and not much
possible for many to imagine, as it isn’t any normal for one
to reach where she is today, for it is filled with thorns,
mountains, long sleepless nights and tough roads.
Her personality confuses most people. Sometimes people had
even asked her whether her professional and academic
achievements are true. For an unlimited woman like Dr.
Sheeba, nothing is impossible.
Being a multi-tasker from birth, she was never satisfied with
one task at any point in her life. She loved experimenting
with various things and trying out new concepts, as she felt
that she was born to be unique and versatile. Any routine job
done by other people bored her easily. She loved learning
everything about anything on earth. She felt that learning is
an endless process.
Dr. Sheeba did extraordinarily well in her career and got
elevated to higher levels in fast track and won several
accolades in recognition of her hard work and dedication in
finance industry. She won many awards and titles throughout
her career. She continued working in finance sector until
2016 to support her family.
“Something came like a sudden blow to my successful career
path when I was working in Dubai -back in 2016. She was
suddenly diagnosed with a tumor in her left eye which
brought her to the rim of tasting death and changed her life
upside down overnight,” shares Dr. Sheeba. She came to
India from Dubai for further treatment and continued staying
at Bangalore then onwards.
During the course of her treatment, a spark of thought came
to her mind about the cause of the tumor in her eye. It was
found that the eye make up products which she used on
regular basis had caused the problem. That was when she
decided to probe deeper into the cosmetic market and find
out more about the ingredients and composition of all types
of cosmetics that are used commonly by people all over the
world.
Dr. Sheeba quit her job as a senior banking partner and got
into medical studies and research along with a team of
experienced medical professionals and biotechnologists.
She pursued higher education in Ayurveda, Naturopathy,
Quantum energy healing and Psychology- all at the same
time, while continuing her researches about the carcinogenic
effects of the harmful ingredients in cosmetic products.
In the pursuit of educating people about the side effects of
synthetic cosmetics, Dr. Sheeba invented her own natural
products using natural ingredients that are safer when
compared to the harsh synthetic ingredients used in many
branded cosmetics. When her friends and relatives used her
products, they found them highly satisfying and showing
quick -permanent results unlike synthetic cosmetics that take
years to show desired results.
Some of her friends insisted her to introduce these natural
products into the market under her own Brand name, so that
many people can benefit out of them. After giving a deep
thought, without much planning and delay, she decided to
sell her products commercially under her own Brand –
LIARA.
LIARA was founded in March 2018 with Bangalore as its
head-quarters. She was the one who did everything to launch
the products -starting from product- R & D, designing,
marketing and placement in the initial days.
It was from June 2018, Dr. Sheeba’s hard work and genuine
intention started paying her off with rapid growth of her
brand and expansion worldwide. Many aspiring
entrepreneurs started showing interest in marketing her
products at different locations and volunteered to become
their franchisees by themselves.
She considers this as a real success, as she had not
approached any single person to help her develop her brand
and develop franchises. It is her mission statement and brand
value that pulled people towards her brand automatically and
made them follow principles to help people enjoy the
benefits of herbs and natural products. Especially women
from various walks of life got inspired by her values and
Dr.
Sheeba Seeniraja
A Born Leader Striving for Success

Dr. Sheeba Seeniraja
Founder and CEO

expressed their interest in learning from her and becoming an
entrepreneur like her.
As a born leader, she believes that leadership is not about
growing individually but in helping others grow collectively.
Hence she agreed to give necessary training and support to
those who were interested in joining hands with her to
promote natural cosmetics worldwide.
Thus, her brand LIARA expanded worldwide within a year
of launch and made her feel proud of herself for taking such
a decision even when her own health was at risk. Dr. Sheeba
won innumerable awards and titles for her seamlessness and
noble business. Her brand LIARA became ASIA’s fastest
growing and top -natural personal care brand in 2019.
Today, when she looks back at this journey from being a
banker to a successful beauty business professional within 5
years, it makes her smile with pride and satisfaction that she
was able to inspire others with her actions, thoughts, and
values.
In an exclusive interview with Insights Success, Dr. Sheeba
shares her life’s journey with us candidly. Excerpts of which
are given below:
Who inspires you to wake up every day and keep making
a difference in the industry?
I’m self-made and my own life experiences are the
inspiration that make me wake up every day and make a
difference in the industry. I believe that my struggles and
resilience is what made me who I am today.
Brief us about the operations of organisation its mission,
vision, and core values.
LIARA was founded as a Natural Beauty Brand that offers
holistic body care solutions at reasonable prices, so that
natural beauty care becomes everyone’s routine.
Our vision is to eradicate life threatening diseases caused by
harsh synthetic chemicals used in personal care products and
create a cancer-free world.
Our mission is to educate people all over the world about
cosmetic-terrorism through our education programs and bring
back the forgotten glory of Ayurvedic & natural body care
solutions that were invented over 60,000 years ago.
Our core values are:
• Purity, authenticity & quality
• Keeping it affordable by all
How has the current pandemic affected your business and
what steps have you taken to safeguard your employees
while catering to your clients?
The pandemic had completely put our business into halt in
March 2020 all of a sudden while we were heading towards
our goals in fast pace. Just within a month after our company
was listed as “The fastest growing personal care brand “2019-
2020, we were forced to shut down our operations temporarily
due to the pandemic.
I established my company without taking any financial
support from external sources like banks or VCs. Hence we
ran out of working capital within three months after the
pandemic hit India. I had to liquify all my assets to pay off the
salary and meet the monthly operational expenses. I’m proud
to say that LIARA is one among the very few companies that
paid FULL SALARY to its employees throughout the
lockdown period. We didn’t cut down even the smallest
portion of our employee’s salary and other benefits. Instead
we compromised on our profits and limited our production to
keep our employees safe and unaffected by the pandemic.
We allowed all our franchisees to close their showroom
premises to save them from getting into financial loss by
paying rents and bills while the consumers remained locked
down at their houses.
As we couldn’t run the manufacturing units during the
nationwide lockdown, we opened new ventures like education
academy and new brand- development to create fresh job
opportunities for those whose jobs were at risk.
To be an INSPIRING LEADER,
one must have a clear
VISION AND MISSION
that inspires others
with similar GOALS.
PEOPLE must follow
us because they
BELIEVE MISSION
in our
and appreciate our VALUES.
One can never INSPIRE
others when they try
to GROW INDIVIDUALLY
“
“

I analysed the future of cosmetic industry under the new
normal lifestyle of people after the pandemic and developed
new strategies to adopt to the changes. Thus we started our
education academy in addition to manufacturing, to impart
online education in Beauty science, Ayurvedic cosmetology
and Holistic health care, so that our customers can learn how
our products are manufactured and try making them by
themselves at their homes. In this way, we ensure that our
customers continue enjoying the benefits of our natural
products even when there is no production due to the
unavailability of bulk raw materials and logistics issues
during the pandemic.
In this way, we also safeguarded our employees from losing
their jobs and salary cuts.
What creative ways have you employed to make the work
environment of company vibrant?
LIARA has always been unique and creative in everything it
does.
We as a challenging team ensure that every team member
feels important, appreciated and accepted.
Some of our creative practices that keep the company vibrant
are:
• Celebrating every special moment in our employees’ life
through parties and lunch treats
• Rewarding the best performers with whopping amount of
cash prizes and rewards to their families.
• Regular weekly team trips to nearby picnic spots
• Supporting female employees by providing child-care
facility and entertainment systems-giving them a stress-free
work atmosphere
• A work environment without gender bias: We have
deployed men, women and transgender employees in our
company, as there is no role of gender when it comes to
working towards success. All of them are treated equally at
all situations and we make them feel appreciated for every
little thing they do creatively.
• We sponsor our employees for their daily personal
grooming and personality development, because we think
that feeling confident about one’s looks and appearance
makes them more productive and successful firstly.
According to you, what are the essentials of being an
inspiring business leader or business professional?
To be an inspiring leader, one must have a clear vision and
mission that inspires others with similar goals. People must
follow us because they believe in our mission and appreciate
our values. One can never inspire others when they try to
grow individually.
The one who shares their mission clearly to others and helps
like minded people grow along with them is a true leader
according to me.
It is OK for me even when my personal goal-achievements
are getting delayed, but when I help others accomplish their
dreams and vision through my business, I feel more content
and satisfied.
The essentials of being an inspiring business leader are:
1) Taking responsibility for both success and failure equally
2) Not blaming others for anything that goes wrong
3) Consistency, resilience and learning through mistakes
4) Selflessly motivating others to grow
What would you like to share with the young generation
of entrepreneurs who are looking to step foot in a
leadership role in their respective businesses?
The first thing that young generation should know is the
difference between making money-getting rich and becoming
a real leader. To become a successful leader, one need not be
financially rich or have great assets. One can become a
leader when they have genuine intentions for others.
Leadership always comes with following qualities:
Selflessness, hard work, consistency, authenticity,
perseverance, resilience and motivation.
One can become a leader only when they feel their own
values strongly and accepts their own flaws without regrets.
Focusing on what we want will take us to where we want to
be.
It is impossible to be a real leader when we keep trying to
appear successful in others eyes instead of being truly
successful.
Continuously gaining knowledge in the filed of business and
improvising our skill sets is another key to step foot in
leadership roles.

Geeta Lachireddy
Geeta Lachireddy
Inspiring women leaders are transforming businesses
with their creativity, dedication, adaptability, and their
never-say-die attitude. They are resilient, courageous,
hardworking, and never back down from challenging
situations. These leaders learn from their mistakes and
always lead their team towards excellence.
One such motivating personality who is influencing the
business sector is Geeta Lachireddy, the Co-Founder and
Chief Operating Officer at Ascent HR. The spirit of
creating employment opportunities for a community was
always a draw for Geeta. Since childhood, she was exposed
to her father’s business initiatives.
However, instead of just being a successful professional,
Geeta preferred to explore entrepreneurship, which had a
larger purpose. The journey started with the greatest asset
she possessed- her self-belief. While the options to start
were many, she went about clearly shortlisting those that
complemented her academic achievements along with a few
years of professional practice.
The discovery of a niche to support organizations with their
payroll and compliance operations took shape with a clear
realization of the accountability associated with it. This set
the ball rolling in terms of preparation, assembling the core
team of experts, and evolving sustainable business models
& funding options. As Geeta executed the business plan,
she experimented with service delivery models, and the
methods & means of improving the company’s efficiency.
Customer satisfaction emerged over a period of time, and
gradually, under Geeta’s perspicacious stewardship,
AscentHR reached the heights of excellence, where it
stands tall now.
Overcoming Challenges with Dedication
Geeta believes that challenges keep showing up in every
business and it is imperative for the business to work
relentlessly in ensuring deliveries/ outcomes. No enterprise
can escape the challenges of attracting and retaining right
talent. She states, “In addition, aligning the workforce to
As a business leader, I believe in an
approach laden with humility and empathy
A Focused Leader Dedicated Towards Enhancing Employee Experiences
the organization’s goals, motivating them to perform and
maintaining levels of productivity are a couple of
challenges I can think of”.
Under Geeta’s perceptive leadership, AscentHR
continuously focuses on improving work-life balance,
up-skilling, flexible policies, among many other
employee-friendly initiatives.
Vanquishing the Pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic tore the world apart. However,
crises often bring out the best in humankind. Managing
payroll is a serious responsibility as earnings/salary is a
lifeline for countless employees. Weeks are spent in
anticipation of that precious credit into our bank accounts.
With Geeta on the driver’s seat, AscentHR, put its might
behind the customers. The company enabled its clients to
comply with a web of national, state, and local statutory
requirements. “We worked around the clock to tailor our
services to the specific needs of a variety of customers”,
said Geeta.
Geeta directed AscentHR’s experts to race against the clock
to decode new government directives and enable customers
to comply without delays. Armed with special passes, the
employees, were physically present at the workplace. The
company delivered uninterrupted services and obligations
to its customers through its innovative payroll platform with
inbuilt checks and balances, to process confidential
customer data.
Source of Motivation
Geeta is conscious about the opportunities for innovation
and improvements that can be used to make lives better.
The mere thought of exploring every bit of it wakes her up
with renewed zeal every day.

Geeta Lachireddy
Co-founder and Chief Operating Ofﬁcer
Ascent HR

She states, “Outsourcing sentiments evolved into acceptable
business models. Opportunities opened, considering the
human capital available in India. Exploiting the power of
technology and its advancement combined with the human
capital asset, along with a blend of innovation, makes the
difference – not necessarily to my industry, but to the entire
world of business”.
Geeta motivates team AscentHR to use technology to put
the ‘human’ in ‘human resources’. She hopes to twine the
flexibility and adaptability of human workers to the
accuracy and efficiency of the technology. Every day, Geeta
consciously tries to improve the outcomes for the customers
by employing the dynamic possibilities of technology.
About Ascent HR
AscentHR is a leading global HR, payroll, and compliance
solutions & services company delivering 1 million
transactions per month, 550+ customers, with capability
across 74 countries. Every day, the company aims to enable
organizations to nurture their human capital through
seamless workflows and processes. It delivers value across
industries by engaging in the areas of business support,
automation, consulting, staffing, and corporate compliance.
The company’s prime goal is to enthuse adaptability,
accountability, and accuracy.
A Caring Frontrunner
Geeta always focuses on delivering excellent employee
experiences. Under her guidance, the company has crafted
employee-friendly policies— specifically flexible working
environment, option of work-from-home, and a clear
onboarding and induction program to begin with. This
equips the workforce to perform their roles with clarity.
Employees are acknowledged in the company’s R&R
schemes.
Geeta aims to keep the employees’ morale up and running
consistently. “We introduced friendly conversations driven
by robotic process automation-enabled chatbots and AI-
enabled analysis of the responses to understand the pulse
across multiple dimensions. The insights help us decide and
execute appropriate interventions where employees need
guidance or redress”, she remarks.
She steers AscentHR to follow the sustainable ‘hire-to-
retire’ guideline to maintain a mutually beneficial
environment between people and processes at the
workplace. The company’s open-door policy in hearing and
responding proactively to employees’ concerns makes all
the difference in gaining trust.
Opinions about Innovation
Geeta believes that innovation is all about the successful
exploitation of new ideas, methods, service models, and
products to deliver a great customer experience. Bringing
about new ideas, products, and time-tested principles, her
company delivers a great experience to the customers and
their employees.
She further states, “Innovation is not a one-time activity and
is not restricted to a single industry. We continue to unleash
the power of technology to meet the business needs and
growth aspirations of our customers driven by adaptability,
accountability, and accuracy.”
Recommendation for the Young Leaders
Geeta states that emerging entrepreneurs need to remind
themselves every now and then – why they’re doing what
they’re doing. “This is not so much a piece of advice as it is
a compelling truth that I’ve discovered through my
journey”, she says.
She believes that creativity is a potent energy that will help
budding entrepreneurs. Being cognizant of experiences of
the past and documenting findings and performances
minutely will be a great reference as they embark on the
journey.
Geeta further opines that originality is a class of its own.
Going beyond expectations means that one must deliver on
every point of the promise. “A job done well will always
speak volumes in many forms and the younger generation
should keep that as a reference”, she adds.
The Voyage Ahead
Moving ahead, Geeta will continue to power people
practices, with a clear plan to enter new geographies. Her
growth ambition in terms of delivering value to the
customers will be fueled by:
• Continuous leveraging of technology (deep learning
algorithms, dialog & conversation enablement)
• Investment and research into cognitive platforms
• Strengthening of knowledge repository
Furthermore, Geeta will also ensure that AscentHR remains
to be the preferred employer. She will continue to put forth
employee welfare and implement every little measure to
ensure the same.

Innovative Ways to Make the

Work Environment
e Vibrant

C
reating a vibrant and healthy
work environment has a
significant impact on
employees' attitudes about their jobs
and peers, as well as their success and
productivity levels. Creating a
productive work climate not only
encompasses just the physical space
but also includes organisational culture
and leadership. There are many
advantages to cultivating a healthy
work environment in which workers
feel appreciated and valued.
A vibrant and healthy work
environment can have the following
effects:
• Employee satisfaction can be
increased.
• Long-term sick leave is avoided or
reduced.
• Productivity, ingenuity, and
profitability are all boosted.
• Increases the company's sales.
With so many advantages, fostering a
vibrant work climate should be a key
part of the company's long-term plan.
After all, it is one of the most effective
ways to invest in your workers and
ensure that they can deliver their best
results.
When it comes to developing a healthy
and vibrant work atmosphere, there is a
lot to consider.
Here are six ways to ensure that the
workers are content, safe, and their
best selves.
• Employee Mental Health Should
Be Protected:
The Mental Health Foundation
estimates that 14.7 percent of
workers have mental health issues at
work. Women who work full-time
are also twice as likely to have
mental health problems. As a result,
your staff will likely have mental
health issues when working for you.
Sick leave is often caused by mental
illness, which has a negative effect
on your company.
Employee Assistance Programs
(EAPs) are an excellent way to
prevent conflicts from arising and to
foster a happy and safe work climate.
Employee assistance programmes
provide workers with a variety of
resources, including online and
telephone mental health counselling.
You should also strive to foster an
atmosphere that allows employees to
express their feelings freely with
their peers and line managers.
Talking about mental health in the
workplace will go a long way toward
making workers feel supported and
satisfied. Hold mental wellbeing out
of the shadows.
• Take a Look At The Current Work
Environment:
The physical environment has a
significant effect on employee
productivity and relationships.
Collaborative spaces, for example,
may minimise employee stress while
also encouraging more physical
activity. Employees can also select
where they work based on their
preferences and project needs thanks
to a combination of open plans,
breakout zones, and private spaces.
Different people perform well in
various environments. As a result,
most experts recommend offering
workers a variety of choices and
allowing them to work where they
believe they can produce the best
results.
• Organize Company Events:
According to research, a mutual spirit
and sense of belonging can improve a
company's performance by as much
as 350% by increasing efficiency,
inspiration, and commitment.
Company activities are a great way
for workers to get to know one
another and form lasting bonds
outside of the boardroom. Hosting a
wide range of activities, including
off-site and onsite socials, can be
challenging. Try to build activities
that are appropriate for all, as
employees come from a variety of
backgrounds and live a variety of
different lifestyles. As a result, some
activities could involve after-work
drinks, while others may take place
during business hours and
concentrate on learning and internal
networking.
• A Healthy Body Equals to a
Healthy Mind:
We all know how important it is to
stay physically active, so we try to go
to the gym at least once a week. The
National Health Service recommends
at least 150 minutes of moderate
aerobic activity and strength training
each week. However, only one in
every three adults in India gets
enough exercise.
Having insufficient time is usually
the most common excuse to skip
workouts or any kind of physical
activity. It's easy to miss the gym
when our schedules are jam-packed
with important meetings and
deadlines. However, inspiring
workers to leave their desks and
work up a sweat has some real
business value.
Exercise not only helps to avoid
long-term illness, but it also helps to
relieve stress, increase stamina, and
even improve productivity. Physical
Working Dynamics

activity has been linked to improved
brain functions such as increased
creativity, faster learning, better
memory, and improved attention,
according to a Harvard study.
So, if you want your workers to
perform at their best, make sure they
go to the gym and put their health
first. Employees should be
encouraged to be physically involved
in a variety of ways, including
discounts at local gyms, fitness
programmes, lunchtime walking and
running etc.
• Establish Clear Communication:
In certain ways, modern technology
makes it easier than ever to
communicate at breakneck speeds.
Every day, over 269 billion emails
are sent around the world, and online
communication tools like WhatsApp,
Slack, and Zoom are becoming more
common among global workforces.
Customer support, employee
satisfaction, productivity, and the
team's ability to meet deadlines will
all suffer as a result of poor
communication, and it can also affect
the bottom line. As a result, when
developing a healthy work
environment, it's important to
consider how you and your staff
interact. Consider how you
communicate with one another and
how the leaders communicate.
• Make Career Development
Opportunities Available:
Almost everybody wishes to learn
new things and develop their
abilities. According to LinkedIn
research, 93% of workers would
prefer to work for an organisation
that offers daily training and career
growth. Encouragement of growth
not only improves employee
engagement, but it also improves
retention rates and increases
available resources so workers can
perform more complicated tasks. You
will scale your company as your
workers gain experience.
Hard and soft skills should be
included in the training, as well as
opportunities for personal and
professional growth. Some
organisations provide workers with a
monthly training allowance,
encourage employees to spend one
day per quarter on personal
development, or establish mentorship
programmes. All of this contributes
to a healthy work atmosphere in
which workers are involved,
satisfied, and productive.
- Ashish Chandgude

Inspiring women in Business, April 2021.

Inspiring women in Business, April 2021.

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