Bloomberg Women’s Buy-Side Network (BWBN) India chapter today announced the induction of two new executive members – Kalpen Parekh, Chief Executive Officer, DSP Mutual Fund and RM Vishakha, MD & CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance – to its Advisory Council.
Mr. Parekh and Ms. Vishakha join the chapter’s founding partners – Lakshmi Iyer, Chief Executive Officer – Investment & Strategy, Kotak Investment Advisors Limited and Nithya Easwaran, Managing Director, Multiples Alternate Asset Management on the Advisory Council.
The BWBN India chapter was established in 2019 to identify and mentor high potential women in India’s buy-side and nurture them to be future industry leaders.
“Over the past four years, BWBN India has evolved into an inspirational and influential forum, providing women in India’s buy-side with wonderful opportunities to learn and develop their skills and gain a deeper understanding of the sector. I am pleased to join the network’s Advisory Council as a male ally to help the industry move towards a more inclusive future; inspiring and equipping women to become India’s next finance-sector leaders,” said Kalpen Parekh.
Since 2019, the BWBN India chapter has mentored over 40 mid-senior women in India’s buy-side through a combination of in-person events, workshops and virtual sessions to equip them with skills and knowledge to rise to leadership roles. The mentees in the program include professionals from some of India’s largest buy-side firms such as Everstone Capital, Alder Capital, Kotak AMC, SBI MF, ICICI Prudential AMC, UTI AMC, DSP Mutual Fund, IndiaFirst Insurance and Motilal Oswal AMC, among others.
“Even as we see more women across roles in India’s buy-side firms, the proportion of women in leadership and fund-manager roles remains woefully low. As the Indian economy grows and the buy-side keeps pace, the onus is on all of us to address the underrepresentation of women in the industry and ensure an enabling ecosystem of meritocracy for women to succeed. Through BWBN, we hope to support and inspire more women from India’s buy-side firms to unlock their true potential and achieve greater success,” added RM Vishakha.
In 2022, BWBN India held several in-person events in Mumbai and provided members an opportunity to engage with each other and gain valuable insights from the Executive Members. The first event, held in April, involved a panel discussion on ‘Lessons in Leadership’ with all the Executive Members. The second event, held in August, centered around Risk Management for the buy-side, and included a deep-dive panel discussion with three top Chief Risk Officers from Indian buyside firms – Alka Mittal, Chief Risk Officer, Aditya Birla Sun Life Pension Management Ltd (ABSLPML), Dr. Leena Vijayvargy, Chief Risk Officer, HDFC Asset Management Company and Namrata Shah, Chief Risk Officer, IDFC Asset Management Company. And in December, an expert panel comprising of the chapter’s executive members discussed evolving buy-side regulations in India and their expected impact on the sector.
Applications now open
As the BWBN India chapter marks its fourth anniversary this month, it has opened registrations for the new cohort. Mid-senior level women in India’s buy-side firms are encouraged to sign up here.
“We are pleased to invite women from India’s buy-side firms to join the next mentorship cohort of the network. BWBN India has accomplished so much in the past few years, and this year promises to be even bigger with more opportunities to learn and network with our members and speakers,” said Rajiv Mirwani, Head of Enterprise Sales – South Asia, Bloomberg.
