It is Avtar’s vision to increase women’s workforce participation in India Inc aimed to enhance the momentum towards transformational economic growth of the country. It, therefore, comes as a huge boost of confidence and excitement for us to be named in the Steward Leadership 25 (SL25) listing for 2022. The SL25 is an annual listing of 25 companies that have shown Steward Leadership excellence within the Asia-Pacific region.
The recognition by Stewardship Asia Centre (SAC), INSEAD Hoffmann Global Institute for Business and Society, WTW (Willis Towers Watson) and The Straits Times is for Avtar’s work towards enabling the entry of more women to the workplaces and nurturing the culture of inclusion. It is extremely impressive to see that Avtar is one of the two Indian companies (other being, Marico) that has made to the SL25 along with other big and prestigious brands.
Avtar Group, through its work in the space of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) for the past two decades, has pioneered several DEI initiatives in corporate India and has helped over 500+ organizations in their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion cultural transformation. The 360-degree DEI solutioning from Avtar helps organizations aspiring for a performance-driven, inclusive culture to institute culture guidelines and follow a strategic diversity road map for gender balance and inclusive workplace for all.
Lead by the visionary Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Avtar has ventured into areas of gender inclusion and career creation, which are firsts to India:
- Creating platforms for second career women to meet potential employers
- Developing a comprehensive set of career enablers that can help companies to include women
- Spearheading original DEI research that has provided cutting edge insights to organizations
- Creating India’s first diversity hiring portal myavtar.com for women, LGBTQ, PWD, Veterans and Silver Generation
- Re-Skilling, Up-skilling and Counselling of women to pursue sustainable career paths
- Building career intentionality amongst under privileged girl children.
Steward Leadership Asia, a non-profit organization, was established by Temasek to help businesses and government leaders, investors and individuals activate stewardship practices through research, executive education, and engagement. According to the SL Asia, the SL25 initiatives were selected and evaluated according to the impact of the initiative and the extent to which its strategy and execution are aligned with stewardship values. And hence, all the 25 initiatives hold equal merit. The evaluation considered the reach, scale and impact the initiative has while the business continues to be profitable.
The 25 organizations and their initiatives were honored at the Steward Leadership Summit, which was held at Shangri-La, Singapore. Mr Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Education, Singapore, graced the event as guest of honour and delivered the keynote address. More than 350 participants attended the event.
On receiving this stupendous recognition, Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Founder – President, Avtar said, “Even when there are alarming statistics reporting the widening gender gaps across the globe, this global recognition towards “Transforming Workplaces for Gender Inclusion” reaffirms the fact that India stands in a position to advance bridging the gender gap in the corporate corridors. We at Avtar are deeply honored for the SL25 recognition and inspired to further influence “social” pillar of ESG critically through our vision for gender inclusive workplaces. We hope to extend our impact beyond India by providing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion benchmarks and solutions for organization in the Middle East and Singapore.”
Mr Lim Boon Heng, Chairman of Temasek Holdings, who unveiled the inaugural list at the Steward Leadership Summit, said, “A rapidly changing world reinforces the principle of taking ownership to do the right thing, and a mindset shift that is critical to driving all of us to work together towards enduring value creation for the benefit of stakeholders, society, the environment and our future generations. These organisations’ initiatives have made a difference, and I hope they will inspire others to act.”
Among the corporates that are featured in the listing include Avtar Group, BNP Paribas Asset Management, DBS Bank Limited, Faber-Castell AG, Marico Limited and Tata Consultancy Services and UBS AG.
With this new feather to the cap, Avtar will continue to enable organizations in traversing their DEI maturity journey through new, path-breaking initiatives and thought leadership support. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the organizations, partners, stakeholders, well-wishers and friends who have been an integral part of our journey.
Read more about Avtar’s new initiative for Corporate India – Business is Good.
Here are a few media coverages of the inspiring recognition:
APN News ~ https://www.apnnews.com/avtar-gets-listed-in-asia-pacific-steward-leadership-25-listing-2022/
Business News This Week ~ http://businessnewsthisweek.com/business/avtar-gets-listed-in-asia-pacific-steward-leadership-25-listing-2022/
Business News Week~ https://businessnewsweek.in/business/avtar-gets-listed-in-asia-pacific-steward-leadership-25-listing-2022/
Media Bulletin News ~ http://mediabulletins.com/business/avtar-gets-listed-in-asia-pacific-steward-leadership-25-listing-2022/
Content Media Solutions ~ https://contentmediasolution.com/business/avtar-gets-listed-in-asia-pacific-steward-leadership-25-listing-2022/
Online Media Café ~ https://onlinemediacafe.com/business/avtar-gets-listed-in-asia-pacific-steward-leadership-25-listing-2022/
Smart Business News ~ https://smartbusinesnews.com/business/avtar-gets-listed-in-asia-pacific-steward-leadership-25-listing-2022/
Biz News Desk ~ https://biznewsdesk.com/business/avtar-gets-listed-in-asia-pacific-steward-leadership-25-listing-2022/
NRI News ~ https://nrinews24x7.com/avtar-gets-listed-in-asia-pacific-steward-leadership-25-listing-2022/
City News ~ https://www.cityairnews.com/content/avtar-gets-listed-in-asia-pacific-steward-leadership-25-listing-2022
