Women Must Take Charge Of Their Future, Not Wait For Opportunities: CII IWN’s Hema Srinivas

By creating a network of women for women, many platforms across India are bringing women to the forefront of discussions, to be part of conversations for change, have a say in decision making, have their voice heard and to ultimately bring in the difference at workplaces or businesses. One such platform that was first established in Telangana is Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII’s) Indian Women Network (IWN), which has been successful in creating confident women leaders.

Recently, CII IWN Telangana elected Hema M Srinivas as the Chairperson for the year 2025-26. After joining IWN Telangana as a member in 2019, she has actively participated in their initiatives at State level. During her last tenure as Vice Chairperson she also played a role as Co-lead in CII IWN Southern Region, for membership engagement and branding. By profession, Hema specialises in corporate training, facilitation, coaching and consulting in the learning and development industry.

She qualified in Design Thinking from Sloan School of Executive education of MIT Sloan School of Management. Besides helping company’s leadership and talent to become better version of themselves, at CII IWN Telangana she is committed towards advancing women in leadership. In conversation with Bizz Buzz, Hema Srinivas speaks in detail about IWN’s activities lined-up for this year for women professionals and entrepreneurs in Telangana.

What was the reason behind your shift from banking to corporate training?

In my last assignment I was the youngest chief manager with IndusInd bank. I was doing extremely well; I was handling large corporate portfolios. But later I felt the need for a change. I had this gut feeling telling me that I needed to be in a more creative space, interact with people rather than just manage money. That is when I started looking around and found out that the power of mentorship helps. In the past 17 years as a corporate trainer, I would have trained more than 3,500 professionals across different capabilities. As I come from a finance background, I believe that the company that hires me should see return on their investment. The biggest validation for my work is that when I meet someone at the airport or in a public forum, they greet me saying that because of my training they were able to land a promotion, or take the next big step at work or change as a person. Such moments makes my shift from banking to learning and development valuable.

What are the traits women should inculcate to be confident leaders?

Women professionals and entrepreneurs should always remember that future is something you create and take charge of, we cannot wait for somebody to take charge of your future. Secondly, own your growth, whether it is seeking mentorship, cultivating contacts and people who will speak about you when you are not in the room. When it comes to negotiating for leadership opportunities you have to own your professional growth, you cannot say it will come to you. Then you have to show up at the right place and be part of conversations that matter. The more you speak at all forums, your voice will be heard. Finally, pushing for change, have conversations to bring in systemic change for women in professional space or in businesses. These are common points for women with leadership traits.

While there are many forums available here for women entrepreneurs why did you choose CII IWN?

By 2019, I had put in 25 years in the workspace and I was at that point in my career where I wanted to find people of intelligent bandwidth with whom I could network. I was also at that stage in my career where I felt I have more to offer to women in the workspace. I did my research and found that objectives of IWN aligned with mine. It is a place where conversations happen, corporate professionals are welcomed… that is what interested me to join IWN. The network here has also benefited me. Coming from a banking background and later joining corporate training…there was a certain profile of people I was always meeting. After having joined IWN the diversity in kind of people and leaders I have met is amazing. IWN has entrepreneurs, inspirational leaders, diverse cross-section of professionals. Even today people like Vanita Datla, Shobha Dixit are doing so much to improve the inclusion parameter, constantly showing-up, supporting and advocating for women. That is the kind of leadership lessons we learn in IWN.

What have you gained after joining IWN as a member?

Because I love the space IWN has created I end up giving a lot like my time, my energy, trainings and so on. But what I have realised is that networking comes after a lot of giving. I have actually had benefits come back to me as some of my professionals engagements have come from the IWN network.

How has CII IWN and its membership strength grown over the period?

IWN started in Telangana in 2013 with CII realising that there is a need for women in the workplace to engage in meaningful dialogue. Stalwarts like Vanita, Shobha, Tejaswini Yarlagadda, met corporates, women leaders and brick by brick built up the membership strength. Initially, only family businesses used to be members of IWN. At IWN Telangana we have a total of 126 members representing industry, institutions, women entrepreneurs and independent professionals. Today we operate in 16 States, two Union Territories, and have 11 Zones.

What are the factors taken into consideration before onboarding someone as a member?

The three category of memberships are industry or corporates, individuals (working professionals or solopreneurs), and institutions. Our membership is open to both CII and non-CII members. CII takes into consideration certain parameters like turnover of the company. The prerequisite for becoming an IWN Telangana member is that the industry or institution should be based out of Telangana or they should be women who are entrepreneurs, solopreneurs or professionals. IWN’s focus is women in business, women led businesses as we look at it with women in leadership lenses. While we are part of industry our constant call to action is how we are becoming more inclusive in work environment. The advantage here is that an IWN member gets to network with the industry. The annual membership fee for individuals is a token amount, for industries and institutions it is turnover based.

What are the activities conducted for IWN members?

There are multiple ways members can be involved in our activities besides attending events. The activities are run under eight verticals, which is, leadership development, mentoring, policy & advocacy, health & wellbeing, campus to career, and strategy, partnership & membership. Each person leading each initiative is called as a Convenor, supported by a Co-convenor, other taskforce members are called as Steering Committee members, all these people constitute to form a State Council. In the beginning of the year the State Council decides on the workplan for the year and what each vertical would achieve. Last year our membership count grew by about 30 per cent. Hopefully we should be able to keep that momentum going on this year too.

As the Chairperson for this year what are your plans for IWN?

One of my goals for this year is to facilitate impactful conversations. These could be through learning events and roundtables at national and international level. This meaningful conversation will come up with pool of ideas to make sure women in the workplace are assisted and better environment is created for them. Under Policy Advocacy we want to facilitate the strengthening of POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act) implementation, and how does industry get serious about inclusive work environment. We would also look at conversations like improving infrastructure for women in MSMEs. The government has mentioned it in the new policy but what can the industry do to make that infrastructure better, such conversations could take place at IWN to make sure that there is an actionable outcome. Then the other activity also includes awareness about cybersecurity. Under Health & Wellbeing, the discussion we are considering is how can we make proactive wellbeing a part of our life. Wellbeing here is not restricted to physical health, there is mental health, financial health, and legal wellbeing. Under the Campus to Career vertical we address issues of students who are getting into career so that the quality of people getting into corporates and the longevity of their careers is dealt with.

How does IWN shape tomorrow’s women in profession or as entrepreneurs?

IWN Southern Region has a mentoring initiative called as ‘EveEmpower,’ which is in its 5th edition. We take mentors from CII and IWN companies and pair them with women mentees from IWN and CII member companies. This is a cross company mentoring initiative. We have seen amazing results because of the cross-company pairing. Mentees find this approach high on trust. One-on-one mentoring, either virtually or in-person, takes place once a month for about six – eight months. We have seen results as some of the mentees from batch one and two have now become mentors. That is the kind of growth we have witnessed through EveEmpower. We support Southern Region, which means each State Chapter nominates a group of mentors and mentees, and we monitor this entire process. The mentee lets us know what kind of growth area they want to focus on and we accordingly select the mentor to help them grow.