Dr Dhara Shah and Professor Michelle Barker from the Department of Business, Strategy and Innovation (BSI), and the Griffith Asia Institute (GAI) are leading researchers in the area of Indian women in IT. They are currently working on a project that addresses the needs of women entrepreneurs in India to develop their careers through capacity-building in the areas of cross-cultural communication, leadership, innovation, mentoring and entrepreneurship.
After meeting with the Queensland Trade Commissioner for India, Mr Gitesh Agrawal, Dr Shah and Professor Barker were offered seed funding by Trade and Investment Queensland (TIQ) to conduct Masterclasses in India for Indian women entrepreneurs in mid-2019.
In late November 2018, Dr Shah and Professor Barker were invited to join the Executive Director of Study Queensland, Shannon Willoughby and the Hon. Minister Kate Jones (Minister for Tourism Industry Development and the Commonwealth Games) in Bengaluru where the Minister announced the Masterclasses. They attended the Queensland Government Reception hosted by the Hon. Minister at the Taj, Bengaluru, to launch the Queensland-India Trade and Investment Strategy. Dr Shah said, “We enjoyed the opportunity to network and build relationships with many potential partners for the University”.
Following this event, Dr Shah and Professor Barker attended the Bengaluru Tech Summit where Hon. Minister Kate Jones presented a keynote speech that was received warmly. They were then invited to visit the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), with the Hon. Minister and TIQ delegates. IIMB is a leading graduate school of management in Asia, and an institute of national importance in India.
“It was a fantastic opportunity for us to travel alongside the Hon. Minister Jones and the Study Queensland and the TIQ delegation to develop important networks during the visit.”
Students of NRCEL (Hub of Entrepreneurial activity at IIMB) pitched their entrepreneurial businesses ideas to Hon. Minister Jones. At the event, Minister Jones announced that Griffith University experts will be offering Masterclasses in India in mid-2019 as part of Queensland’s commitment to India.