Coimbatore : Poonam Bafna, has been elected as the Chairperson of FICCI FLO Coimbatore for the year 2019-2020. She is the Director at Mount Housing and Infrastructure Ltd. and also the promoter of Dream Solitaire, a Jewellery firm.
Coimbatore : Poonam Bafna, has been elected as the Chairperson of FICCI FLO Coimbatore for the year 2019-2020. She is the Director at Mount Housing and Infrastructure Ltd. and also the promoter of Dream Solitaire, a Jewellery firm.
Dr Sarala Gopalan, IAS, former Secretary to Government of India, was the chief guest at the installation function.
Poonam Bafna, has been associated with the FLO Coimbatore Chapter for the past 7 years of which she has been an Sr Vice Chairperson for the past year.
After being installed as the Chairperson of the FLO Poonam Bafna introduced the theme for the year ’Empower Within and Beyond’. Talking about the Coimbatore chapter of FLO, Poonam Bafna said "FLO Coimbatore Chapter has spearheaded various verticals in the community for women empowerment. The likes of which being Swayam and Entrepreneurs’ Development Programme (EDP) which is a consultancy and mentorship cell which provides consultation and training in marketing techniques for establishing a new business for budding entrepreneurs."
"The objective of the FLO is to encourage and facilitate women to showcase their talents, skills, experiences and energies across sectors and verticals of the economy, for a truly inclusive economic growth trajectory", she added. Poonam mentioned that over the years FLO Coimbatore chapter has played catalyst in transforming many lives of women.
Dr Sarala Gopalan, the chief guest is a retired civil servant with 34 yrs of service. Her last posting was Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Development of Women and Child Development. She has prepared reports on various issues relating to Social Development, Women and Children and participated in various conferences of the United Nations on women, WTO and UN conferences on Sustainable Development.
Speaking at the event Dr Sarala said, "There is still a glass ceiling, a wall behind which the women were hidden and women have to break the ceiling and the wall for the world to know their strength".
The retired IAS officer shared her experience during her tenure when she had raised the question about women's empowerment to a group of parliamentarians when one of the men said "Women are not let outside because men are scared of women. They know women can outcast men at all levels if they are given the opportunity. Its now our role to break the fear and raise the next generation of sons in a way that they consider women equal".
Sarala Gopalan talked about the women friendly policies adopted in Norway where women are granted 49 weeks of paid leave and when they come back to work will be absorbed in the same capacity.
FICCI FLO members and past chair persons were present at the event.