Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WICCI )
A National Business Chamber for Women, Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, (WICCI) boosts and builds women’s entrepreneurship and businesses through greater engagement with government, institutions, global trade and networks.
To share a perspective on our various endeavours and free platforms for women empowerment over the years, with a collective strength of 500,000+ members across 150+ countries: ALL Ladies League (ALL) is a movement of “sisters beyond borders” with circles of sisterhood worldwide in a She-for-She spirit; Women Economic Forum (WEF) is a global conference platform for women worldwide to speak, share, connect and collaborate for business beyond borders; SHEconomy is our e-commerce and trade platform for both goods and services by women worldwide; and WICCI is our industry and business chamber which works closely with the government, other chambers, corporates, universities and diverse stakeholders across India and Internationally, toward empowering local and global ecosystems in support of women’s enterprises and businesses.
Core
WICCI enables fundamental changes in governmental policies, laws and incentives with a view to robustly encourage and empower women in business, industry and commerce across all sectors.
WICCI with its 2500+ Councils at National, Regional, State, City and Bilateral levels, comprising 50000 office bearers in honorary roles, along with the 3 National Boards viz. Governing, Advisory and Executive, suggest from time to time concrete steps and recommendations to empower women-owned businesses to become more competitive. All councils prepare & submit policy recommendations for the government/authorities as required.
Councils further act as networking powerhouses and support groups for women to grow their businesses and careers.
National Boards:
There are 3 National Boards comprising Advisory, He-for-She Advisory, and Executive. DG, WICCI is Member Secretary in all.
- National Advisory Board: This apex national board provides the thought leadership to the national sector councils on the vision and policies required to help fully integrate women into mainstream industry and commerce, achieving India’s goal of a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025 and empowering gender balanced growth in our inclusive vision of Amrit Kaal as we march toward 100 years of Independence by 1947. It comprises invited industry icons and leaders across domains as board members who serve as mentors to the national sector councils. DG, WICCI is the Member Secretary.
- National He-for-She Advisory Board (Denim Club): This national advisory board of He-for-She champions (Denim Club) comprises male allies in solidarity with the mandate of the chamber. It comprises industry and policy leaders including CEOs, entrepreneurs, businessmen, and leaders across domains. The Denim Club is a Group of He-for-She Champions worldwide, comprising male allies in support of gender equity and equality. As leaders and luminaries across diverse domains, they advocate and take actions for mitigating barriers to women’s representation, leadership and entrepreneurship. The Denim Club began with male allies supporting Chairs at the G100 Club and now extends its support to the sister platforms of WICCI and ALL.
- National Executive Board: This national executive board comprises ex-officio presidential representation of all the WICCI councils at National, Regional, State, City and Bilateral/Multilateral levels, along with their Denim Club Partners.
Council Categories: National, Regional, State, City, Bilateral/Multilateral
1. National Councils:
There are National Sector Councils across 500 sectors and domains. National Councils are Sector Specific. Each of the National Sector Councils shall comprise: President, Denim Club Partner, Vice-President, 20 or more nominated Council Members, and any Advisory Members (Denim Club).
2. Regional Councils:
(Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western)
There are 4 Regional Councils, across the East, West, North, South geographic areas. Regional Councils are Coordinating Councils. They help connect the work all councils in the respective regions.
Each of the 4 Regional Councils shall comprise: President, Denim Club Partner, Vice-President, 20 or more nominated Council Members, and any Advisory Members (Denim Club).
The Eastern Region consists of: Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland. The Western Region consists of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Goa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. The Northern Region consists of: Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh. The Southern Region consists of: Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar.
3. State Councils:
There are two kinds of State Councils: State Sector Council + State Coordinating Council.
3. A. State & Union Territory (UT) Coordinating Councils:
State Coordinating Councils help coordinate all the state sector councils in respective States and also suggest further state councils for their national counterparts.
Each of the State/UT Councils will comprise: President, Denim Club Partner, Vice-President, 20 or more nominated Council Members, and any Advisory Members (Denim Club).
The State Coordinating Councils work in collaborative approach with State Sector Councils in the State.
3.B. State/UT Sector Councils:
State/UT Sector Councils are Sector Specific.
State Sector Councils are formed in each State/UT of India by the corresponding National Sector Council.
Each of the State/UT Sector Councils shall comprise: President, Denim Club Partner, Vice-President, 20 or more nominated Council Members, and any Advisory Members (Denim Club).
4. City Councils:
There are two kinds of City Councils: City Sector Council + City Coordinating Council.
4.A. City Coordinating Councils:
City Coordinating Councils help coordinate all the city sector councils in respective cities and also suggest further city councils for their state counterparts.
Each of the City Councils will comprise: President, Denim Club Partner, Vice-President, 20 or more nominated Council Members, and any Advisory Members (Denim Club).
The City Coordinating Councils work in collaborative approach with City Sector Councils in the State.
4.B. City Sector Councils:
City Sector Councils are Sector Specific.
City Sector Councils are formed within each State/UT of India by the corresponding State Sector Council.
Each of the City Sector Councils shall comprise: President, Denim Club Partner, Vice-President, 20 or more nominated Council Members, and any Advisory Members (Denim Club).
5. Bilateral / Multilateral Business Councils:
There are Bilateral / Multilateral councils with 150+ countries for global exchange and developing business connections and collaborations with women in India and abroad.
Bilateral / Multilateral Business Councils develop business opportunities for their members globally across a range of sectors. They can request to connect with any of the councils in India for building bridges of cooperation and exchange in synergy and support.
There will be counterpart councils in both countries for developing exchange. For example for a country, let’s say UK, there would be a UK-India Business Council (based in UK), as well as India - UK Business Council (based in India). They will work in close cooperation to build the bilateral/multilateral business corridor.
Each of the Bilateral / Multilateral Business Councils based in India or abroad shall comprise: President, Denim Club Partner, Vice-President, 20 or more nominated Council Members, and any Advisory Members (Denim Club).
With active engagement of a wide cross-section of women entrepreneurs, businesses and professionals in all walks of life, we:
- Empower our collective influence on policy-making and decision-making at all levels;
- Empower our collective influence on policy-making and decision-making at all levels;
- Foster the much-needed momentum toward changes at all levels, enabling equitable growth, inclusive development, and sustainable approaches optimising economic growth and societal wellbeing.
Commitment
WICCI and its manifold multi-sectoral and sector-specific Councils at International, National, Regional, State and City levels, suggest from time to time concrete steps and recommendations to relevant government authorities, engage in community outreach and collaborate with a variety of institutions to:
- develop policy frameworks for incentives and concessions especially regard improved access to finance and credit, and tax benefits;
- develop areas of focus sector-wise and with diverse stakeholders to mainstream women’s voices and uphold women’s interest, voice and visibility at multiple levels.
- hold programs, webinars, conferences, and especially around how to: raise funds, structure businesses, increase market share, drive sales, improve branding, and enable B2B collaborations.
- help mitigate our many challenges and boost business prospects through networking and mentoring;
- collaborate across councils in India and abroad in mutual exchange and empowerment, boosting business-to-business interaction and economic activity.
- strengthen women’s voice and leadership in the media and across institutions;
- and other measures that empower the competitiveness of Businesswomen, Entrepreneurs and Professionals, toward enhancing our economic inclusion and business growth overall.
WICCI Councils are flexibly structured, enabling them to work with inclusion, diversity and self-determination, within an enabling organisational framework and a guiding Code of Conduct.
Across all our platforms, we work with a spirit of sisterhood in trust and togetherness and an ethos of participatory/distributed leadership. We seek active engagement of all council members. When thousands of us give our ideas, then we will truly understand what needs to be done and implemented. These ideas and thoughts should continuously come from all strata of life and diverse backgrounds, so that one can assimilate and implement with understanding of what is truly required at grassroots for policy and mindset change. It is these diverse inputs that form the broad basis of many of the unique ideas and innovative actions/recommendations evolved by councils and presented to various government authorities.
AUSPICES
With five sister platforms, as five fingers of the hand, in support and solidarity. G100, ALL, WEF, SHEconomy and WICCI, are under mutual auspices, particularly the primary platform of ALL. In order of their creation since 2011, ALL Ladies League (ALL) is a global sisterhood movement in She-for-She spirit uniting women as “sisters beyond borders”; Women Economic Forum (WEF) is a conference platform for women’s greater visibility, voice, recognition and networking for pursuing “business beyond borders”; WICCI is the industry and business chamber for advocating “policies beyond borders”; SHEconomy is an e-commerce platform and app for both goods and services by women entrepreneurs for strengthening “commerce beyond borders”; and G100 is a global platform for joint action empowering “gender equality beyond borders.”
All platforms together ensure women’s advancement in all walks of life with an integrated vision and inclusive values. With a powerful network of 500,000 women across 150 countries, growing toward Mission Million 2024, and engaging the support of men, these empowering ecosystems are among the largest global communities of women in all their rich diversities, with free outreach and sisterhood support.
Membership in all cases is free and by invitation only. We are non-political, non-religious, non-dogmatic. Our Core Values and Code of Conduct across all are in accordance with our G100-100 Commitments. Briefly, we follow the thumb rule of All Positivity, No Negativity, with Sisterhood as the organising principle.