Committees
Women Entrepreneurs & Professionals ICCC formed the Women Entrepreneurs and Professionals (WEP) committee on 8 March 2013 to coincide with the International Women’s Day. In recognition of the rising role of Canadian women of Indian origin in the social and economic fabric of Canada, the ICCC launched the WEP committee.
Managing members of the WEP committee
gram; then last year it launched the Canada-India Mining Committee to tap the growing opportunities in the natural resources sector. Hence, viewed from this perspective, the WEP committee is part of an overall strategy to grow the Chamber and reach out to new constituents.
The committee’s primary focus is to provide a platform for women entrepreneurs and professionals and work to augment ICCC’s membership in that demographic. The stupendous success that WEP has received in the last few months is a clear indication that the formation of such a committee was something that the Indo-Canadian community in Canada wanted. The committee has raced ahead in building membership.
ICCC has consistently given due weightage to women’s role and achievement in public sphere. When it instituted the annual awards more than two decades ago, it recognized the achievements and the contributions of women entrepreneurs and women professionals. But it isn’t just in these categories that we have acknowledged women. In fact, women have been recipients of awards in several other categories as well.
The committee comprises Ravi Malhi, Chair; Smita Dayal, Co-chair; and Managing Committee members Ginni Sethi, Mini Khurana, and Shibani Sahney. On the formation of the committee, ICCC President Naval Bajaj noted that seen in isolation, the formation of WEP may seem like a major step. However, when seen from an evolutionary perspective, it will show that the Chamber’s dynamism to stay relevant to its constituents and build its constituency amongst a new and growing segment.
Ravi Malhi, the chair of the committee, emphasized, “It is heartening to see such a massive support from the community to our newly launched committee. It indicates the deep resonance this committee has created among the women.” An important postscript to the formation of the WEP committee is the first event held in 2012 to celebrate the International Women’s Day. Ruby Sohi, ICCC’s former director, was instrumental in gathering eminent Indo-Canadian women to share their success stories. In 2013, too, ICCC invited a stellar panel of distinguished women from different spheres to talk on the subject of Immigration and Women.
It is heartening to see such a massive support from the community to our newly launched committee. It indicates the deep resonance this committee has created among the women
During the last 15 years or so, ICCC has initiated several measures to reflect the changing needs of its members and its stakeholders. It began to advocate for the small businesses nearly a decade ago to enable them to become globally competitive. In recent years it has launched new programs to address the needs of newcomers to Canada from India through its mentoring pro-
Team • • • • •
ANNUAL
Ravi Malhi, Chair Smita Dayal, Co-Chair Ginni Sethi, Member Shibani Sahney, Member Mini Khurana, Member
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