In conversation with Priti Mayank Patel, Founder & CEO at Tenet-Media & 1st Expansion Partner for Women Choice & SII.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and your association with Social Innovation Incubator (SII).
I am an Indian serial entrepreneur based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Founder & CEO of Tenet-Media. With the Social Innovation Incubator, we are the 1st Expansion Partner for women’s employment in India, an impact initiative under the umbrella of Women Choice – an international organization that focuses on empowering women through business and career development solutions. I am also a proud mother.
Women empowerment is a great initiative, how is Women Choice and SII doing this?
Women Choice is an international organization founded by Nezha Alaoui, that works hand in hand with companies, institutions and governments committed to advancing impactful leadership, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Women Choice expanded its impact activities from New York to the MEA (Middle East and Africa) region to launch its five-year plan of achieving 1M jobs for women across the Arab world. More information can be found on the website at womenchoice.org. By end of 2023, SII is already planning to expand to Asia with India first and this is where I step in. I am beyond excited for this initiative and look forward to the official launch in Q4.
How did you decide to become an Expansion Partner with SII by Women Choice?
I have always been a strong advocate of women’s rights and this is especially true around the work I have done to bring healthcare access to women and men around the world in more than 60+ countries. I always like innovative concepts of creating employment, and not just have conversations around gender parity. SII India will change the game by ensuring people and organizations hold themselves accountable through actionable commitments and will put in place the necessary structure to ensure women have the right support for their projects.
How is this initiative going to impact both the UAE and India?
Being based in Dubai but with strong roots and business in India, it gives me an opportunity to use my experience in creating a strong bridge between India and the United Arab Emirates. Also, considering the large number of working women and entrepreneurs from India being based in the UAE, this becomes much easier. I am able to help them better by having access to the cultures of these two nations, but ultimately my focus will be on India and its neighbouring countries. Most of the challenges are same everywhere but there are always local issues that women are facing, which can be different from one country to another. The most important factor is to have experience and ground support on the field and that’s where we come in. Our expertise in the Indian market and having spent time there locally helps us to accelerate the initiatives planned and execute them on the field more effectively.
When do you plan to roll this out in the Indian market and who can participate or contribute in this?
We have already started working jointly with the Women Choice and SII team MEA and are planning the activities for SII India that will start at the end of 2023. We are signing key partnerships that will help take the project further and ensuring to have a clear agenda to follow, so we are on track. You can expect to hear more in the upcoming months and especially around November and December this year.
Tell us about your commitment to Indian women professionals here in UAE and in India?
As an Indian myself, I clearly want to help our community of working women and entrepreneurs in India get all the necessary opportunities and technical skills to either advance their corporate career or launch their entrepreneurial journey. As a Dubai resident, for me, the work starts here and making sure that my co-citizens across the Emirates know they have a network to rely on and can also participate to this initiative back home in India. Together we are stronger and can do much more when it comes to giving back.
