Women's leadership development programme

New Delhi: IBM along with Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) and Catalyst India WRC will launch a cross-industry women's leadership development programme that would encourage women to take charge.

The women's leadership development programme -- 'Tanmatra' would leverage the best collective practical experience and research to prepare women for leadership in the Indian business community.

The programme will also create a common networking platform for high-potential women.

In this collaborative programme, IBM is the knowledge partner, Catalyst India is the research partner and IIM-Bangalore is the education partner.

Catalyst is the leading nonprofit organisation with a mission to expand opportunities for women and business.

“We are delighted to be the knowledge partner on Tanmatra as it supports our vision towards building women leaders not just in a uni-dimensional context but in the larger canvas of multi-industry, enabling peer-to-peer learning mentorships and community give back," IBM India/South Asia vice president - HR Dilpreet Singh said.

Open to organisations across the country, it will train a batch of 30 high-potential women across industries with at least 12 or more years of industry experience across a span of 10 months.

"Women currently represent less than a quarter of the labour force employed in organisations. Tanmatra is one-of-a-kind developmental programme for high-potential women that will enable them to gain exposure to business concepts, mentoring and networking opportunities with established leaders," IIM-Bangalore programme director Vasanthi Srinivasan said.

Commenting on the programme, Deborah Gillis, president and CEO Catalyst, said, "Through Tanmatra we can communicate with working women, discuss the daily challenges they face and suggest effective strategies based on our extensive research. India Inc is bound to benefit enormously from this strategic and culturally relevant initiative”.