Anuradha das Mathur: Strengthening the Next Generation in India

This week on 4-Quarter Lives, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox talks with Anuradha Das Mathur, the founder of an original Management and Leadership programme in INDIA, dedicated to young women with ambition. Vedica Scholars is a pioneering leadership program that helps young women in India build sustainable, ‘break-free’ careers by refusing the cultural choice between work and family. This year, it’s celebrating its 10th anniversary and fast-growing alumnae group.

In this conversation, Anuradha and Avivah explore how Vedica is transforming career trajectories for ambitious women, challenging traditional gender norms, identifying enlightened employers and companies, and fostering a new generation of leaders who are financially independent, self-assured, and unafraid to break free from outdated expectations. Anuradha also describes her personal journey - how her own awakening to gender inequalities led her to launch a program that has now empowered over 800 women. She and Avivah discuss the changing aspirations of young women in India, the cultural shifts influencing their career and life choices, and how this might be transferred to other regions of the world. India’s evolution is key to the 21st century, as are its women.

Anuradha Das Mathur is Founding Director of the Vedica Foundation, the Founder and Dean of the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women, and Founder of the Vedica Women’s Alliance, a network of senior women professionals who are committed to advocate for a more gender-balanced professional ecosystem. She also serves as Senior Adviser at the DGA Group and is Managing Director of the CFO Collective – a boutique media company serving India’s senior finance community. She has also co-founded Samarth, one of India’s most reputed elder care companies with operations in 100 cities. Anuradha spent twelve years of her career with the Indian affiliate of the Economist Intelligence Unit, where she led the research and advisory business, working at the intersection of the policy, business and development sectors. Prior to this, she ran Businessworld, India’s most widely-read business magazine. She was selected, with 25 other women globally, for the prestigious Global Women's Mentoring Partnership program, a joint initiative by Fortune and the U.S. Department of State. Her passion for improving women’s participation in the workforce took root during this programme and has led to her pioneering ventures such as The Foundation for Working Women and the Vedica Foundation. In 2016, she was elected to be a part of India's ‘100 Women Achievers’, an initiative launched by the Government of India. Anuradha received a B.A. in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University and an M.A. in Economics from Trinity College, Cambridge University. In 2016 she was selected as a Yale Greenberg Global World Fellow.

Some Useful Links:

* Vedica Scholars Programme Website

* The Vedica Story | Inception, Impact, and Vision

* “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it” - Only 11% of Top Business School Case Studies Have a Female Protagonist

* Falling fertility rates leave India staring at a looming demographic challenge