Women in STEM: Swati Babel, CEO, PrimaDollar India

Swati Babel is the CEO of Primadollar India, a fintech company providing a supply chain trade finance platform. She started her journey from SBI Global factors. She had also worked for IFCI Factors Ltd wherein she was responsible to monitor the factoring portfolio for West India. Swati also founded BridgeGap Financial Services in July 2014 with the sole objective to facilitate clients with working capital facilities, factoring transactions, invoice discounting, credit rating advisory, supply chain financing and structured import trade transactions. In the Women in STEM series, Swati outlines her opinion on the state of working women in STEM roles.

What are your roles in PrimaDollar? What are your immediate goals for the company?

My role is to promote and establish a unique product - Supply Chain Trade finance. It aims to bring a new dimension to global trade where features from the traditional trade finance sector blend with those of emerging technology-driven SCF. The traditional SCF program only helps suppliers once the goods have arrived at the destination. The SCTF platform allows suppliers payment at the point of shipment rather than at delivery. Thus, the buyer does not have to go through the complexities of an LC.

Has the inclusion of Women in STEM changed over the years? How can the change be snowballed?

Yes, of course. There were gender stereotypes when it came to working women in STEM field. Women had fewer role models to look up to in STEM and the field was predominantly dominated by Men. Just the sheer demand of working hours in STEM hurt women as they had to manage household works as well. But now society has changed a lot.

Women are willing to take up any challenge in front of them and they have risen to the demands required to be successful in this field. Today women can work at par with men and now companies are looking at women in leadership positions just for their sheer management skills. Also, companies have built an inclusive and adaptive workplace culture for attracting women in tech roles.

In the new normal, how are the roles of Women in Tech changing? What are the new challenges for women in tech?

Diversity and inclusion have been a focus for Tech companies. The pandemic has made the possibilities of remote working. With companies allowing flexible schedules, women are finding it easy to manage their professional and personal life better. The world has become digital after the pandemic broke and hence has translated into creating more opportunities for women in tech looking to start their careers in the field.

The challenge for women is to keep themselves updated with the latest tech as new opportunities are there. It is important to keep a positive attitude, remain focused and turn every challenging situation into an opportunity.

The impact of women in technology is undeniable. What do you think should be the ways to keep women engaged and appreciated in the workforce?

The best way to keep women engaged is to offer training and support, allow them flexible timings, and develop a culture of learning, development, and sensitizing the workforces. The accelerated digital transformation during lockdown has paved the way for new and innovative career fields in technology.

In senior roles, how many women are on the top at PrimaDollar? What is the company doing to bring equality in genders in senior leadership roles?

Currently, in India, all the women are in leadership positions at PrimaDollar. At Primadollar there is a constant focus on employees and we are one as a family, there is no gender discrimination. We discuss the company strategies and investments in weekly team calls wherein all the employees in the organization connect and also share information across all levels. I am really proud and blessed to be working in an organization like PrimaDollar.

What should organisations do to further advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the new hybrid workplace?

The world of work is changing. The future of work is going to be centred around people and how they connect with seamless, secure and smart collaboration technology. Companies should have a level playing field for reward and advancement In professional life. They should have the flexibility of timings, especially during remote working.