The 36th annual session of FLO was attended by the Hon’ble Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
The women wing of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), also known Ficci Ladies Organization (FLO) held its 36th annual session. It was the first virtual Change of Guard ceremony. The theme was ‘Rising above Covid Challenges’.
Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI was the chief guest and keynote speaker of the first session, Reddy announced for the first time in 36 years, a collaboration between FICCI and FLO is being held to empower women economically.
“An empowered woman can transform the world and with this collaboration, we look forward to touching atleast 1 lakh women in next 2-3 years and help them to lead a better life”, said Ms. Reddy.
The Hon’ble Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Om Birla was the other chief guest & keynote speaker. Birla released FLO’s compilation of around 1200 Grassroots Women in Business, named ‘‘Invisible Women: Bringing Them To The Front”. A Compilation Of Around 1200 Grassroots Women In Business’.
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Speaking at the occasion, Birla said “to make our Prime Minister’s vision of self-sustainable India, we look forward to FLO’s continued efforts in empowering women in both rural and urban areas. Women are multi-tasker, we need to create a model where every woman sitting at home can be economically independent.”
“We are going through a global crisis and are witnessing some unprecedented and difficult times. In India, the government is doing a commendable job to deal with this challenge and has come up with thoughtful and urgent economic relief packages, especially for the poor and the vulnerable section of the society”.
As a part of the civil society and a business chamber, it is our responsibility to stand in solidarity and come together to support the government combat the COVID-19 pandemic and to help respond to this global outbreak. FLO is an ever evolving organization and we have turned this challenge into an opportunity and here is an exemplary and pioneering move, where we are organizing the annual session and Change of Guard virtually”, he said.
“This is a compilation of grassroot women in enterprises, who were once landless laborers or poor housewives, are now earning their own livelihoods and becoming self-reliant with small businesses. We may have often seen them selling tea in the corners or selling snacks or even running beauty parlours or tailoring. But these are mostly unorganized and their stories go undocumented”, said FLO President, Harjinder Kaur Talwar.
“Our primary agenda is to create a pool of information on these grassroots women and connect them to the relevant administrative bodies in the government and facilitate assistance to these women in accessing finance and help them scale up”, Talwar added.
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