A plethora of women champions from across the globe gathered together to lighten the first-ever annual Women Economic Forum in Goa at Goa Marriott, from May 7th to May 11th 2015. Along with the women leaders were business leaders, Corporate Coaches, Entrepreneurs, Authors, Icons, Actors, Political Stalwarts, Policymakers, Ambassadors, Media personalities et al who came together at the Women Economic Forum to create a truly vibrant atmosphere of discussion, debate and millennial thoughts.

Women Economic Forum 2015 Program was spread over a diverse range of topics with exceptionally good Speakers. The over 400 Delegates came back with a lot of experiential learning in an environment of positivity and fun. Some of the eminent personalities at the forum were Chief Minister, Maharastra, Shri. Devendra Fadnavis, Actress Vidya Balan, well- renowned director Madhur Bandarkar, Kiran Bedi, politician & retired IG; H.E. Dr. Burak Akcapar, Ambassador of Turkey; Sachin Pilot, Former MOS, GOI; Sara Pilot, Founder CEQUIN et al.

The first day of the forum started with a curtain raiser session introduced by the lady herself Dr. Harbeen Arora, Global Chairperson Women Economic Forum and ALL Ladies League, world’s first-of-its-kind all-women’s international chamber. Then it started with the interesting plenary sessions on subjects ranging from religion to violence against women and then to enabling change by amplifying women’s voices in mass media. Women delegates from Poland, London, Israel, Pakistan, Morroco, Canada, USA and other countries shared their exclusive thoughts on the topics of national & international concern.

The second day of forum was jam-packed with interesting breakfast sessions on E-commerce, inculcating work and life skills in school education, art of persuasion and negotiation, grandma stories, cloud economics, net neutrality, Quality & Innovation are no longer departments et al. A packed house got a taste of different parallel sessions alongwith some interesting lunch roundtables on small-scale manufacturing, surviving against all odds, clinical beauty treatments, inclusive growth, racism, hospitality, socially responsible advertising, househusbands et al. The plenary sessions included the discussions on “The Business of Beauty, Fashion & Entertainment: defining trends from world over.” , “Exploring – Women Oriented Cinema; A much honored filmmaker, Madhur’s movies are splendidly known for their strong female protagonists and out-of-the-box narratives rooted in real life”, “India: The New Global Economic Growth Engine India with its new set of dynamic entrepreneurs and world class CEO’s is driving growth not just in India but globally. India is expected to now be a major force in driving global markets.” Those who spoke included renowned director Madhur Bhandarkar, Ms. Meghna Ghai Puri, President, Whistling Woods International (Mukta Arts), Ashoke Pandit, Member of Censor Board & Filmmaker; Poonam Dhillon, Actor & Politician, Zarina Stanford, IBM, Vice President, Asia Pacific; Alok Bansal, CFO & Co-Founder, PolicyBazar.com. The day also experienced an award ceremony specially organized to fecillitate the Goan Women achievers from different spheres of life namely Ms. Odette Mascarenhas, preserver of traditional Goan culinary; Ms. Cecille Lee Rodrigues, an ace Zumba dancing, successfully running a dance academy; Ms. Ethel Da Costa, a prominent media professional and a prolific writer; Ms. Sonia Shirsat world-best Fado singer in India & also the promoter of traditional Goan music; Ms. Archana Bhobe a noted fashion designer.

The third day of forum started with scintillating breakfast roundtables on topics like talk on meditation & its power, caretaking of elders, intuitive healing therapies, consumerism, angel funding et al followed by some compelling parallel sessions on Entrepreneurship at Grassroots, The New Women: Empowered, Enlightened and Inspired, Art of Cross Cultural, Yogance, power of miracle, Social media blueprint et al. Among the parallel sessions was a candid conversation with Amruta Fadnavis, the First Lady of Maharastra, wife of the state’s second youngest Chief Minister, Maharastra, Shri. Devendra Fadnavis. Some chit-chat sessions at the round tables were about inter-faith respect and tolerance, Parenting, branding influences, protest rallies necessary to get justice, Conversion or Anti- Conversion Laws, experiencing motherhood, “chakra” & “karma” management. The plenary sessions included the discussions on “The Journey of Dhirubhai Ambani”, “ The New Young Politicians, changing the world view and how Nations can collaborate in a new world order” , the theme plenary “Women: the harbingers of change”. Those who spoke included H.E. Dr. Burak Akcapar, Ambassador of Turkey; Ms. Mossarat Qadeem, Chapter Chairperson, ALL Islamabad, Pakistan; Justina Mutle, International Speaker and Philanthropist, UK; Sachin Pilot, Former MOS, GOI; Dipti Salgaokar, daughter of the legend Shri Dhirubhai Ambani; V.Balasubramanian, Group President, Reliance Industries Ltd., ; Shazia Ilmi, BJP Spokesperson; Sara Pilot, Founder CEQUIN; Anar Patel, Founder and Managing Trustee, Gramshree; Aruna Jayanti, CEO, Capgemini.

The 4th day of forum started with refreshing breakfast roundtables on topics like talk on attracting customers for business, shattering glass shields in our minds, NGOs or entrepreneurship?, hypnosis, healthcare systems: India, China, US, Africa, Wise or Worldly-wise, Preserving mother tongues, children today et al.Some chit-chat sessions at the lunch round tables were about Winning Recipe for success, Social Entrepreneurship, Maternal Health, youth leadership, personal branding, Freedom of expression and many more. Then, the most crucial sessions started and among others were “Maharashtra: the financial capital and leading in growth”, “ Role of Media as Change Agents”, “Effective, Accountable and corruption free Governance– Police and Administrative Reforms Required”, “In conversation with Vidya Balan, Actor and Women Icon”. Those who spoke included Hon’ble Chief Minister, Maharastra Shri Devendra Fadnavis; well-renowned actress Vidya Balan; Kiran Bedi, BJP; Umesh Upadhyay, President, News at Network 18; Mohan Sivanand, Editor-at-Large, Reader’s Digest; Pinky Anand, Additional Solicitor, General of India; Dr. Habil Korakiwala, Founder Chairman and Group CEO Wockardt Ltd.; Prahlad P. Chhabria, Director, Finolex Cables, Ltd.; Siddharth Zarabi, Executive Director, Bloomberg TV India; Rohit Bansal, Managing Director, TV18; Bhupendra Chaubey, Consultanting Editor CNN-IBN, Mr. Dilip Piramal, Chairman, VIP Industries.

The fifth day of the forum was specially kept to bid adieu to all the wonderful personalities who made the forum a cherished memory for ALL
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WEF 2015 Program and Photo Gallery

• Plenary Session
• Parallel Session
• Breakfast Roundtables
• Lunch Roundtables
• WEF 2015 Gallery
• WEF 2015 Media Coverage