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Avtar, a leading Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) consulting firm, has launched an initiative that will provide large business groups an opportunity to build inclusive small businesses and start-up ecosystems in India.
The ‘Business is Good (BIG)’ initiative is aimed at encouraging large corporates, which have strong gender inclusion and diversity practices, to mentor small businesses in their ecosystem, including vendors, suppliers and distribution channel partners, in implementing DEI practices in their work-places.
Under the initiative, companies with mature DEI practices will act as mentors to MSMEs embarking on their inclusive journey. Avtar will act as an ‘enabler’ providing DEI expertise and coaching.
The initiative was announced as part of the 6th edition of Avtar & Seramount Best of the Best Conference 2022. The one-day conference was held to recognise the efforts of India’s most diverse and inclusive workplaces. The conference also provided a platform for sharing best practices by Avtar & Seramount Top 10 and 100 Best Companies for Women in India and entities in the Avtar & Seramount Most Inclusive Companies Index (MICI).
Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Saundarya Rajesh, Founder - President, Avtar Group, said, “Corporates have begun to increasingly focus on the concept of goodness. It means they are looking beyond increasing stakeholder wealth, topline, bottom line and other financial metrics to look at old world values such as compassion, respect, and understanding of different people in the organisation.”
“Goodness need not be restricted to corporates. We are thinking of how we can take it to their entire ecosystem such as vendors, suppliers and other stakeholders,” she added.
For instance, Rajesh said, corporates can ask their courier companies to implement high safety standards or mandate minimum women representation in the vendor organisations.
Earlier, in her opening remarks, Rajesh said, the trend of companies focusing on different aspects of goodness is on the rise. “Companies having supplier diversity programmes have increased from 19 per cent in 2016 to 45 per cent in 2022. Companies having second career programmes have increased from 30 per cent to 75 per cent during this period.”
The total number of women hires in Avtar & Seramount 100 Best Companies for Women in India during 2022 stood at 3,09,705, while the number of second hires in these top 100 companies stood at 22,608.
The current workforce participation of women in MSMEs stands at 24 per cent, Rajesh said, while MSMEs are looking to be more diverse and gender inclusive, they do not have the mentorship or guidance to begin their inclusive journey.
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