Show Notes:
The global climate movement/industry is not very inclusive; amongst other things it struggles with gender gap. This is especially true in a country like India where the climate industry, particularly the clean energy sector, suffers from a significant gender gap, with women severely underrepresented in technical and leadership roles. While women disproportionately bear the burden of climate change impacts, social and systemic barriers limit their participation in the very sectors that could offer solutions and economic empowerment.
In India there are several government initiatives focused on women’s participation, along with several grassroots and third sector initiatives that are working to build skills and capacity. One such initiative is #Nadhi -SheforClimate a women led initiative building climate resilience through human capital development. #Nadhi is the brain child of Shalini Bharat a banker turned climate entrepreneur and social leader.
After a 17-year career in finance, including serving as the COO of Corporate Bank at Deutsche Bank India, Shalini founded the climate community platform with a vision to empower 100,000 women to become climate leaders by the year 2030.
So, what inspired this banker to leave the safety of 9-5 for climate entrepreneurship? In the course of our conversation, we spoke about....
- Her motivations for creating a platform dedicated to increasing female representation in climate leadership
- The overwhelming lack of women in decision-making roles in this critical space
- Initiatives that facilitate capacity building, fostering community, and provide career support for aspiring female climate leaders
- The importance of partnerships in advancing these objectives, highlighting how collaborations with various
organizations can amplify the impact of their mission
- Authenticity and purpose as
critical drivers for meaningful change within the climate space
#Nadhi works at the intersection of gender equity and climate adaptation by enabling women to enter and thrive in green careers building long-term individual and community economic resilience. They also support micro-entrepreneurs in climate-aligned sectors such as sustainable agriculture, clean energy, circular economy, and low-carbon services and help create community-driven knowledge network.
ShaliniBharat is also the founder of the circular economy startup The KindBusiness
#WomenInSustainability #ClimateLeadership #BreakingBarriers #BreakTheBias #GenderAndEnvironment
#RepresentationMatters
#AmplifyHerVoice
Episode Transcript:
Sudha: Good morning, Shalini. Wonderful to have you as a guest on The Elephant in the Room podcast today.
Shalini: Thank you. My pleasure to be here and thanks for inviting me.
Sudha: Let's start with a quick introduction. Shalini, what inspired you to start a business focused on climate? What is Nadhi She for climate? And is that the right pronunciation?
Shalini: It's Nadhi. Like river.
I'll talk about the inspiration behind Nadhi
So, Nadhi, it's been about, I think 16, 17 months since I started Nadhi, but the backstory to this is I used to be a corporate banker. And in 2021 I left my job a CXO level person, quit the job without a plan, wanted to, get into the climate space. But I started with a little bit of social leadership fellowship. But when I kind of entered the climate space, I. It was very overwhelming.
First of all, you didn't know whether it was a scientific or a science based, you know, skill or experience you need, or is it something that I can use my existing domain expertise to get in there? It was just overwhelming. And climate is a huge space, right?
So I remember how overwhelming it was for me and I think over the past four, five years I tried to build a few things on the side, but one of the common questions or topics where whenever I used to speak to anybody used to be, hey, how do I get into the space? And that prompted me to start Nadhi.
I could also say it was also for selfish reasons that I also wanted to be part of something where I can meet like-minded people, you know, exchange ideas, exchange thoughts, and also feel that you're not really out of place in any of your conversations.
I could have kept it open, but I also realized that having been part of so many networks and conferences, there's always a little bit of not being heard in the room kind of.
Shalini: And you know, usual mansplaining. All those things also happen. So I thought, why not do this only for the den? So it all started with a Google form last year, February. I just rolled it out in Bombay. I didn't really expect the response I was getting.
And that is how Nadhi's journey has also been that it was completely impromptu without too much of planning or anything.
And then it kind of became into a venture or a social business, Nadhi's primary goal is how do we enable more and more women to come into the climate space. Now it will be interesting to also see that, or rather it was for me very interesting that I have been part of so many conversations with women.
But it was when I read a report from OECD, it said less than 30% women. There are only 30%, less than 30% women leaders in the climate space who are decision makers and senior level leaders.
So all these things I would say kind of prompted me to kind of put a structure which was pretty much can I enable more women to the climate space?
So the focus is on three aspects which is climate fluency through capacity building and of course a whole community of like-minded women and and providing them career support by partnering with organizations. That became like the core of Nadhi. So the mission is to enable 100,000 women to become climate leaders, decision makers, change makers by 2030.
Sudha: Amazing. I think this journey to transitioning and taking that leap of faith.
It has to be a leap of faith when you leave something without a plan because we are so conditioned culturally and socially to not take risks. And this is definitely; this definitely sounds like a risk.
So this plunge into entrepreneurship, Shalini, was there an aha moment or was it a gradual. Gradual sort of, you know, awakening to the possibilities as you sort of explore and then you find that oh, you know, this is what is me or this is what I'd like to be doing.
Shalini: So to be honest, if you had asked me five years back if I would even ever think of become an entrepreneur, I would have said no. That was something I didn't really plan or even remotely thought about.
But what happened I think was, I would say it was gradual, but I think they were also that aha moment for me to kind of jump into that space.
So gradual because you know, when I, like I earlier mentioned coming into the climate space, having had a very, very, how do I say, broad experience in the corporate sector, I thought getting into climate would be also easier and it wasn't easy. So which means I was also very clear that I'm not going to start from scratch.
All the years of experience I've, I built I don't want to just go to Cash, so. And that's where I thought, why not do something on my own? Honestly, after being through the journey, I realized how hard it is.
But I think the point in time was if I don't do it now, I would regret it later. Yeah, might as well try it now and see where it takes me.
So I think it was also a little bit of, I would say, risk taking on my part, thinking that, okay, let me try it at least.
Shalini: But that moment was for me to try, build something on my own came about because I found it extremely difficult to find anything, how do I say, suitable for my, you know, experience and what I was trying to look for. So I think that that kind of requirement need also pushed me to kind of do this.
Sudha: Amazing. That sounds like. Yeah, that sounds like. So such an interesting journey.
So what, what does a typical day look like in the day in the life of a founder? Can you walk us through it?
Shalini: One thing I can tell you for sure, No two days are the same. So there are days which are really full of energy. You are literally peaking. There are days where you want to kind of literally dig your head in the ground and, you know, think about, why am I doing this? So there are both kind of days.
So typically I would say, you know, it's all, it's all about spending a little bit of time planning for the next set of things you want to do. So in my case, what I also realized is I don't plan too far ahead because this one, this sector is changing for me.
It's also kind of keeping three months or six months as a planning goal and start planning for that and also having conversations with lot of companies, individuals to understand what is needed and where is the gap. I think it spends a lot of time in just talking to people, individuals and companies. And then there's the doing part.
Because you're a founder, you do everything everything is all your baby.
But I'm also kind of, how do I say, kind of a grateful to have a very trusted set of people who I can always go back and brainstorm and have them as my sounding board. So for me, a day is typically more on, you know, engaging with people, companies and understanding that and then planning.
To be honest, earlier in a corporate life, you're done with Monday to Friday. Here it is not. So I, I kind of even sometimes if I feel like I even pick up my laptop and do work on a Saturday or a Sunday. But off late, I've also been very conscious that having that mental space for yourself is very important. So I consciously take one day off in a week where I don't think about anything. But primarily, you know, it's all about planning.
Then there's a lot of doing and then there's a lot of engaging with people.
Sudha: Yes. Yeah, yeah. And I guess as a founder you also have to be very hands on. So all the things that you have to do. Yeah, it really keeps you busy.
But then how do you draw the line? So I think that's an interesting thing that you mentioned that at least one day in a week you're not going to be working. Yeah, that's brilliant.
What have been some of the biggest challenges that you've encountered so far, Shalini? And perhaps unexpected opportunities arising from those?
Have you had challenges in accessing funding for the, you know, funding for the initiatives that you are like planning or taking up?
Shalini: So to be honest here, unlike a product or even to a certain extent a service deck where you could say, hey, this is my product, you know, can we, can we get funding for it, A grant or, or you know, equity, whatever it is. Right. It's much easier.
When you're building a network and there the network has lot of programs, funding is a challenge.
So that's why this conversation with, you know, different partners of corporates and organizations is a probably one way to go forward where, you know, you engage them, show well that you're adding, could add value to those organizations. But yes, for an organization like ours, it's always looked at as little soft. But, but I think one thing people forget is while you may build product or service, you still need people who are conscious, who are intentional and have them by your side. And that network is also something where people are going to leverage at future points. Right.
So I don't think that, I don't think the investors or funders look at it such long term because for them it's a long term investment. So I would say that that continues to be a challenge. So I mean working on it, we'll see where we kind of land, see opportunities.
I'll tell you there are two interesting things which kind of happen.
Or rather I would say I wouldn't call it challenges turning into opportunities but it just because the, how do I say, the objective or the overall mission aligns with people and hence they want to kind of partner or give you opportunities.
So one of them being because we kind of sit at the gender inclusive climate intersection. There are organizations who want to say that, hey, I want to kind of also position my organization as, you know, very women focused. Or I want to kind of bring in more women into, say, climate entrepreneurship. So I want to kind of work with you. So these organizations who see this as a very aligned partner, those kind of opportunities definitely pop up.
But other apart from that, it's all about, you know, I'm kind of completely keeping funding off the table because it's a little of a longer kind of conversation. But typically this is how funders work.
But there are opportunities because people definitely look at us as potential partners because we sit at the conversation.
Sudha: So the next question sort of neatly segues into this is, you know, so you're nurturing the skills and the talent of, you know, women to enter the space and to sort of engage in the opportunities. How exactly are you doing that? How are you making this space more inclusive and representative? What are some of the initiatives? Probably.
Shalini: Like I mentioned at the beginning that we have these three verticals, right? Capacity building, community and the career support. So think of this as a launchpad.
So I might be a marketing person, finance person, technology person who has absolutely no clue about anything to do with climate. But it's also become very important when we have, when you're within the organizations or when you're looking to shift to have that climate fluency.
So what we do is we run all these programs to help people build their climate currency. I can probably share a couple of examples where you're probably able to see what that means.
So I remember one of the sessions which we did, which was a very high level ESG kind of a, I would say like a cohort based thing. And here we got people who were working with high net worth, you know, individuals or officers, family officers, and they said, okay.
They came to me and said, look for me, when people ask me about ESG and how does it apply to the family, office or high net worth individual? It's very important for me to have that knowledge of how can I advise them about what does it mean for you?
Now I'm not going to become an ESG specialist myself, but this kind of an introductory information or information or knowledge helps them to build that. Yeah, right. So kind of helps them to also understand the different players, how different sectors look at ESG.
So I'm saying that is how the fluency part of it comes.
Sudha: Yeah, yeah.
Shalini: We also have done a Mentorship program. So which means for entrepreneurs or MVP stages, the pilot mentorship program. How do I go about finding my product market fit is my, is my problem statement clear? And I mean do I know my customer better? How do I go about raising money, funds, runs, you know, all those things. So I would say it's a combination of all these things.
When people come to us, when people join the community, they get a overall or kind of an ecosystem support which kind of address all of it. So it's more like a. You come in. Absolutely.
As a newbie or a novice, you have like-minded peers who also just generously share knowledge or make the connections for you.
And, but also you have these kinds of programs or some, you know, the, or the mentorship or the other things which we run also helps them to, you know, get plugged into different things which is of their interest. Yeah, so that's how I would summarize it of nurturing.
Sudha: What, what do you think are the specific skills that are lacking and that you know, the future change makers, female women, change makers that you're looking at, what should they focus on developing? Because like you said at the start, you know, you have worked for maybe 20 years in the banking sector and you don't want to start from scratch.
You have experiences that you can sort of, you know, re train and sort of use a different way in different situations. You know, after 20 years you don't need to go back to the drawing board, you need to get fluency.
But you have already have so many skills exist that can support you. So from your experience, what are these, you know, specific skills that women need that are really important when they're transitioning?
Because a lot of them is about, a lot of it is about transitioning.
Shalini: So I would rather in instead of skill I would say probably I would talk about two things to focus on. I mean it can be a skill building exercise or it could be just polishing it or you know, sharpening your existing...
