Legal Luminary, Zia Mody recounts her journey in a candid conversation with FICCI FLO

 

New Delhi, 11^th July 2020: Legal luminary, Zia Mody shared her journey and experience while establishing herself in the legal arena alongside the male counterparts. She managed to earn trust, build credibility and rise to the top, all the while bala

ncing a very demanding career and her personal life. Zia discussed about her marvellous achievements as a one of the foremost Indian lawyers in a candid conversation with FLO, the Women’s Wing of FICCI. This was the first interaction under the “Eminent Women” series started by FLO.

Zia Mody is a founder & Managing Partner of AZB & Partner and daughter of former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee. She grew up seeing her father as a lawyer and at the age of 9 years only she decided to become a lawyer. She decided to study law outside India. After coming back to India, lot of multinational companies gone back including Coke, and they only returned to India when Manmohan Singh opened the economy, which was very exciting for her.

When she started her practice, there were very few women who stood up in the in court to argue. “We worked with integrity, passion and of course you have to be intelligent. In the first 5 years we didn’t had any Indian clients, we decided to be modern and payed higher to our people to get the best talent”, she said.

Zia said “Being a woman, success is not easy and being a mother of three children, I know how multitasking can be so challenging. I got all my motivation from the women in my life, my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law and my own mother”.

She got inspiration to write her book “10 Judgements that Changed India” by Shobha Dey. She also recalled cases of Indira Gandhi, Palkhivala, Shah bano and Judgement of Justice Verma, which later became the law for sexual harassment.

Jahnabi Phookan, National President FLO said, “FLO has initiated Eminent Women Series this year, to create an inspirational learning platform for the pan India members. We aim to make a difference by creating an opportunity to interact with eminent women leaders like Zia Mody, to learn from their experiences, help face challenges better and bring out the leader in them.”

The session was moderated by day Chair Dr Aarti Gupta, Chairperson of FLO Kanpur Chapter along with other FLO members as active listeners.

About FICCI FLO

FLO is the women wing of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). FLO was established in 1983, as a division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) which is the apex body of industry and commerce in India. FLO has been promoting entrepreneurship and professional excellence among women through workshops, seminars, conferences, training and capacity building programmers etc. As an All India Organisation for women, FLO has 17 Chapters pan India - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Northeast, Pune, Amritsar, Northeast & Uttarakhand, with its Head Office in New Delhi.  Its members comprise of entrepreneurs, professionals and Corporate Executives.

Declare Corona Vaccine a “Global Common Good” without ownership

-          Campaign signed by personalities across the board including likes of Shabana Azmi and George Clooney

-          Prof Muhammad Yunus in an interactive session with FICCI FLO 

Mumbai, 6^th July 2020: FLO, the Women’s Wing of FICCI organized a webinar with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. He discussed that it is not advisable to return to what used to be the normal in finance and economics and the present-day situation is a perfect foil to start new practices and business for social good.

Prof Muhammad Yunus shared his insight with FICCI FLO members “Corona has given us another chance, to change our direction otherwise world would have ended in few decades as a result of global warming, wealth concentration, Poverty, Artificial intelligence etc. so no going back, let’s just forge a new future”.

“Social businesses are here to solve problems around the world like poverty alleviation, global warming, migrant workers, medical facilities etc., that’s what we did when we created Grameen Bank. A business solution model for people who needed it, particularly to poor women. Grameen Bank is all focused on poor women, as 97% or 9 million of our followers are women”.

Speaking about the Corona Vaccine He said “The effectiveness of the vaccination will depend on its universality and to ensure the availability of the vaccines to all people on the planet almost at the same time, it has to be free from ownership. It should not go to the highest bidder that will create a mess. We should look at building pharmaceutical companies on a social business model as soon as possible. We have recently announced “Declare COVID-19 Vaccine a Global Common Good Now campaign” It has to be freed from commercial interest. The polio vaccine should be declared as a common good, not owned by anybody. Why not (have) the corona vaccine follow this path?, many personalities across the world are supporting this campaign including Shabana Azmi and George Clooney. ”

Jahnabi Phookan, National President FLO said “Grameen bank has enabled millions of poor women to be empowered economically. Grameen bank has helped and nourished women to grow and become self-reliant”. 

“We at FLO are focusing on sustainable livelihood and are connected with several implementing partners asking them to help us to reach the grassroot level. In our 17 chapters across India we are adopting a village each, working with local NGOs involved in women-led enterprises . We are to offer online training from NIITs for the grassroot level women to provide them with financial and digital literacy”.

Ms Rinku Mecheri, Chapter Chairperson, FLO Chennai was the Day Chair of the event and The Vote of Thanks was proposed by Sr. Vice President of FLO, Mrs. Ujjwala Singhania.

About FICCI FLO

FLO is the women wing of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). FLO was established in 1983, as a division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) which is the apex body of industry and commerce in India. FLO has been promoting entrepreneurship and professional excellence among women through workshops, seminars, conferences, training and capacity building programmers etc. As an All India Organisation for women, FLO has 17 Chapters pan India - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Northeast, Pune, Amritsar, Northeast & Uttarakhand, with its Head Office in New Delhi.  Its members comprise of entrepreneurs, professionals and Corporate Executives.

Corona brought up the plight of poor forward, we need strong micro entrepreneurial sector and social business model - Prof Muhammad Yunus

-         Mumbai Chapter of FICCI FLO discussed about the benefits of being a job creator versus job seekers with Prof Muhammad Yunus in conversation with Faye D’Souza 

Mumbai, June 25, 2020. The current Covid 19 situation proved that economist have failed and focus on micro entrepreneurs is the way forward, job seekers are like soldiers who fight the wars on behalf of their owners said Prof Muhammad Yunus, at the webinar organised by the Mumbai Chapter of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO). In the interactive session winner of Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank, spoke on different issues like importance of social business, failure of capitalism, devastation of poor people by the pandemic and way forward.

Speaking on the current COVID 19 situation Prof Muhammad Yunus said, “This is a great opportunity to reflect. Basically, whole world got behind the closed doors beyond 90 days and the poor people have struggled a lot, most of the people have lost jobs. We are on the verge of explosion & massive amount of unemployment and Corona has made them visible right up front and demonstrated how Capitalism and Economics have failed. Now, corona has given us an opportunity to select our new path also it lead to a less of global warming as most of us were at home & not going to offices”

He further added “Economics only have taught pursuing self-interest as we take care of ourselves, but common collective interests are the way forward and a social business is the right approach. We created a wrong world, it sucked up wealth from bottom and sent it up for select few”.

Talking about Grameen bank Prof Yunus said “Informal sector is long ignored, I call them micro entrepreneurs, in country like India it’s around 80% of total work force, but they are not in mainstream and there are no institutions to take care of them. Countries like India and Bangladesh need strong Micro Credit institutions, which lend money to this large workforce, as no bank of capital economy gives money to them. This is what Grameen bank is all about, 97% of our borrowers are women and we strongly believe in empowering women. Today Grameen bank loans out to so many, we lent out more than 3 billion dollars last year and our performance is amazing with repayment of about 99%”.

Prof Yunus said “Capitalism is based on Self-interests and not Common collective interests. Economics have only told us to create organisation for Profit. We teach young children in school & home that you can either be a job seeker but not enough focus on how to be a good human, the point is what you want to do in your life. The moment you have your job, you sacrifice your identity, thus entrepreneurship is a way forward to grow economy. Corona has given us the opportunity to think do we really want to go back to the earlier normal, it has proven that we need to find a new destination.

Giving a background to this webinar, FLO Mumbai chapter chair Maloo Natarajan said, “The idea behind this multi award winning concept of micro credit is that everyone is a national entrepreneur. The first tipping point was in 2008 when financial crisis answered one of his question about financial credibility of the poor versus the rich. The second tipping point is the current Covid 19 situation which has proved that entrepreneurship is the way forward”.

She further added “This current natural cause is the blessing in some ways to help us reboot, reimagine and reform, Flo Mumbai vision this year is based on UN sustainable development goals with special emphasis on entrepreneurship and environment. The national theme is sustainable livelihood and we are looking at it across the urban, semi urban and rural space. We strongly believe that entrepreneurship is the way forward”.

About FICCI FLO

FLO is the women wing of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). FLO was established in 1983, as a division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) which is the apex body of industry and commerce in India. FLO has been promoting entrepreneurship and professional excellence among women through workshops, seminars, conferences, training and capacity building programmers etc. As an All India Organisation for women, FLO has 17 Chapters pan India - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Northeast, Pune, Amritsar, Northeast & Uttarakhand, with its Head Office in New Delhi.  Its members comprise of entrepreneurs, professionals and Corporate Executives.

Jahnabi Phookan Appointed as National President of FICCI FLO

 

New Delhi, 22 May 2020: Ms. Jahnabi Phookan has been appointed as National President of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO), the oldest women-led and -focused business chamber of Southeast Asia and the women’s wing of the apex chamber Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). She took over from outgoing National President Ms. Harjinder Kaur Talwar at the 36th FLO ANNUAL SESSION- Rising Above Covid Challenges in the presence of Honourable Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla. FICCI FLO represents over 8000 women entrepreneurs and professionals across 17 chapters nationally and works aggressively towards promoting economic empowerment and equal opportunities for women.

Ms. Jahnabi Phookan is the 37th National President of FICCI FLO. In her role as the National President, she will focus on empowering women with entrepreneurship capabilities and professional excellence, enabling them to take up new challenges and maximise opportunities in the new normal post Covid.

Speaking about her new role, Ms. Jahnabi Phookan said “I am honoured and humbled by the responsibility entrusted on me. We at FICCI FLO are working towards women's economic empowerment at various levels, but - going forward and in accordance with current times - our aim will be to focus on creating sustainable livelihoods for women to empower them further. We wish to move towards our aim by promoting entrepreneurship and professional excellence among women across the country and I am excited to embark on this journey.”

Passionate about women’s empowerment, Jahnabi strongly advocates and tirelessly works towards building sustainable livelihoods for women’s economic upliftment

Jahnabi is an entrepreneur, a co-founder of two National Tourism Award-winning companies: Jungle Travels India and Assam Bengal Navigation Company under JTI Group. Her companies are encompassed in travel & hospitality - boutique river cruising, small group specialised tours, tea and textiles - all of which empower young people’s livelihoods, especially women and their communities.

Jungle Travels India (JTI Group) was established in 1989, to draw tourists and nature enthusiasts to the unexplored North-east Indian jungles, wildlife, dense forests and water bodies. JTI Group was the first IATA agent of the entire Northeast and still continues today as the most experienced, bespoke outbound and inbound tour operator in this region. Assam Bengal Navigation Co. (ABN) established in 2003, is the pioneering long-distance river cruise company in India with a portfolio of boutique river cruise ships, houseboats and safari lodges along the Brahmaputra and Ganges Rivers. Worth mentioning that, 5% of every room booked in their portfolio is contributed to the ABN Foundation that supports projects in education, environment and community development.

Jahnabi has worked for the causes of women empowerment, equality, social justice and skill development in order to make them more confident, employable and independent. She has worked for the cause of women weavers of Assam and runs her own signature line as Tribal Heritage and Lahe Looms since 2014. Jahnabi started the platform ‘KONYAK’ with her partner from Nagaland in 2008 for the artisans and weavers of Northeast India with a curated collection of handlooms, handicrafts and artefacts from this region. This platform effectively combined textiles and tourism to help artisans and weavers learn, adapt and stay in sync with the latest in designs and techniques in order to garner a regular source of income.

Jahnabi is a graduate from Calcutta University with a PG Diploma from Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi. She is also an alumnus of Indiana University, USA. As an alumna of the US Govt Exchange Program, she has been the US Citizens Warden for Assam since 2011. She has been conferred with Doctorate of Letters (D.Litt.) Honoris Causa by Assam Downtown University in 2018 for her outstanding work and contribution in eco-tourism and women empowerment. Ms Phookan is also a member of the National Board of Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) now under the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Skill Development, since 2012. 

Ms Phookan was the Founder member and Founder Vice Chairperson of FLO Northeast chapter in 2007. During her tenure, she conceptualised the ‘Iconic Women of Northeast’ Awards that honours 5 women from across diverse genres in the NE who have overcome difficulties to achieve their dreams. Jahnabi was a recipient of the FLO Outstanding Women Achievers Award in December 2013.

About FICCI FLO

FLO is the women wing of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI). FLO was established in 1983, as a division of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) which is the apex body of industry and commerce in India. FLO has been promoting entrepreneurship and professional excellence among women through workshops, seminars, conferences, training and capacity building programmers etc. As an All India Organisation for women, FLO has 17 Chapters pan India - Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Northeast, Pune, Amritsar, Northeast & Uttarakhand, with its Head Office in New Delhi.  Its members comprise of entrepreneurs, professionals and Corporate Executives.