A native of India, I received my Chartered Accountancy from ICAI and my MBA from the Duke Fuqua School of Business. I am currently the Executive Director of Emcure Pharmaceutical, a global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Pune, India, with a turnover of 6000 crores ($750 million USD). It has a presence in 70 countries and over 10,000 employees. When I’m not building social impact initiatives or advancing the frontiers of pharmaceutical drug development, I am spending time with my two amazing boys and relaxing at home.
Creating Social Impact Means Thinking Strategically
People don’t always know how to ask, “What is not there?” Leaders, too, struggle to see the gaps and to correct their assumptions. The key to truly thinking strategically about our complex and highly dynamic world is learning how to ask those difficult questions.
Women are half the world’s population but are under-represented in government and business and under-resourced in health services and social attention. Internet access and information about women’s health issues is at an all-time high in India but India still lies at the bottom of global rankings in women’s health access and resources.
How could there be so much information, and oftentimes resources, while women’s health issues still struggled to even break the surface of the social conversation?
I soon realized that the gap was not a lack of information but a lack of translation. In my time at Fuqua, I learned all about how to communicate with diverse groups and the importance of connecting with people on visceral, sometimes emotional levels. Facts don’t change our minds, but shared experiences do.
That’s why I started the talk show. That’s why I believe changing the dismal reality of women’s health in India must start with a conversation; open, intuitive and essential.