Business Today hosted the 21st edition of Business Today’s Most Powerful Women 2024 event in Mumbai. Women leaders from various fields spoke about the challenges women entrepreneurs face in running offices in India.

Shefali Goradia, President of Deloitte South Asia; Radhika Gupta, MD & CEO Edelweiss AMC and Amisha Vora, Chairman & MD Prabhudas Lilladher Capital in a session moderated by Aayush Ailawadi and Sakshi Batra shared their views on navigating the complexities of modern business.

Reflecting on the crucial aspect of multitasking in the workplace, Radhika Gupta of Edelweiss AMC said, “Women are natural multitaskers without any professional training and spreadsheets. Multitasking is a great leadership skill. At least as a CEO, I was taught two things – one is stakeholder management as we look at regulators, media, customers, etc., the other thing is that as you grow in an organization , your role becomes more generic. So what we traditionally refer to as female skill sets are the ones that are needed in the workplace.”

Speaking about the importance of being emotional at work, she cited her own example and said that “there is no right leadership style” and that she needs to embrace her own style.

The three stalwarts also spoke at length about what keeps them up at night as women leaders and for those women who aspire to reach that benchmark.

Shefali Goradia of Deloitte South Asia said there is still a lack of equal seats for women at the high table in India, despite awareness. “We have almost 50% at the entry level, but it thins out as women step up. As leaders, we need to create a framework that allows more women to stay in the race,” she said, adding that despite several facilities provided by India Inc for women, there is more to be done. Goradia said in terms of geographies Europe does more in this aspect even better than the US.

Prabhudas Lilladher Capital’s Amisha Vora said the best approach to reaching out to women in the workplace is to first believe in themselves.

Emphasizing the importance of investing, Vora said, “While you work to make money, investing and building wealth makes the money work for you. Your money works for you. Don’t miss this opportunity… Every rupee you keep waiting loses its value due to inflation. What really brings the power of your money is wealth creation, and stocks bring the most value.”

BT MPW 2024 theme “Equilibrium. Work. Life. Safety,” addresses essential aspects of leadership, resilience and well-being for women navigating the complexities of modern business.