In the dynamic landscape of modern leadership, it is the stories of women at the helm that shine as beacons of inspiration and progress. Traditionally, when men are dominating the higher leadership roles, some women are reshaping the future of business with their unique qualities of leading the people. They are exploring unique experiences at work as well as at home and building the compelling strategies that have propelled them to the forefront of the industry. Sippy Sujan ( Managing Director of ITCAN ) is breaking every barrier that comes across through courageous and strong decisions. She continues to create an impactful environment that boosts the confidence of everyone around her.
Fascinated By The Realm Of Brand Management
Even before graduating with an Honours degree in Economics and MBA in Marketing & Finance in New Delhi, India, Sippy Sujan has always taken an interest in brand management and marketing. She began her career by gaining professional experience working in the auto industry for two years before moving on to the tech world in India and Singapore. She played a significant role in co-founding ITCAN in 2006 and led the $50 million, 1300-employee business to record-breaking growth.
Blessing in Disguise
Growing up, Sippy Sujan encountered gender discrimination, however, she admits that this turned out to be a blessing in disguise, making her stronger and more confident to fight for the best opportunities and to be treated equally. She said, “In today’s world, more and more women are getting empowered but what’s important is the awareness and change we should bring to the thought process of educated men in society. A whole generation worked to empower women, but forgot to teach men how to live with empowered women – that awareness is important to work upon most aggressively.”
Cultivating a Positive Outlook Through Tough Times
Talking about difficult times, Sippy Sujan says, “From the beginning, I always believed in not giving up. The tough times helped me find a positive attitude which in turn helped me attain emotional intelligence, and sharpen my thought process and communication skills to speak up and be heard,” added Sippy.
On the other hand, today she believes that there is a silver lining to the grey gender discrimination cloud. As she articulately puts it – “Nowadays, gender bias has explicitly disappeared from the workplace due to strict legislation and increased focus on diversity”. Sippy Sujan believes the shift in issues has become more subtle and these challenges have taken a different form from those encountered by previous generations of women.
Empowering Emerging Women Leaders
According to Sippy Sujan, it’s the responsibility of senior women leaders to support young working women and ensure that they realize their full potential. ITCAN has come up with a strategy to drive gender equity in leadership including having credible female mentors and role models. ITCAN scouts for suitable candidates and works with them to progress their careers to the next level. As an industry, the company pushes the culture of mentorship forward to support the younger generation of upcoming women leaders.
Commenting about International Women’s Day, Sippy Sujan views the global event as a day that empowers women and inspires change through gender equality. According to her, ten values should be cherished on this day including justice, dignity, forgiveness, equality, hope, collaboration, tenacity, appreciation, respect, and empathy. She contemplates that human rights are synonymous with women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights. At their most basic, human rights concern reciprocity in human relationships that extend to all humanity and beyond.
#EachforEqual
According to Sippy Sujan, “Individually, we are all responsible for our thoughts and actions – all day, every day. We can actively choose to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations, and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender-equal world. Let’s all be #EachforEqual.”
It is important to bring awareness regarding issues such as sexual harassment, gender pay gap, gender bias, etc. Women should realize that they are not alone. Large corporates are welcoming and perceiving a conscious approach towards the diversity ratio by capitalizing on the different ways men’s and women’s minds are wired. Finding yin and yang to form a perfect balance between ideals and governance brings flexibility when it comes to gender diversity at work.
Expressing her thoughts about violence against women and girls Sippy Sujan says that it is a major cause that needs to be defeated in 2023. She believes in raising awareness to root out violence against women and girls, fighting against impunity, and silencing the stigma and shame that surround it. Sippy Sujan walks the talk by working in over 40 countries to stop violence against women by supporting the required amendments in the laws and challenging culturally accepted practices that treat women as second-class citizens.
“Achieving gender justice is not only a matter of basic rights but also a means of achieving fairer societies and overcoming poverty. We have already seen the difference that equal job opportunities, equal healthcare, and education, equal decision-making power, and freedom from violence can make; when women and girls can make their own choices and exercise their collective voice when institutions address their needs and interests,” added Sippy Sujan who believes that everyone has an equal part to play in making it happen.
Unshakeable Belief in Women’s Abilities
Being an outstanding leader, Sippy Sujan has absolute faith in women’s ability to head top management positions. Numerous studies have supported that women managers and leaders are just as effective as men, Sippy believes that women excel at creating productive and engaging work environments.
She elaborates, “Women represent an extraordinary talent pool. This is particularly significant in light of the dramatic shortage of highly qualified and skilled workers worldwide. Businesses with the most women managers, members of the C-Suite, and corporate boards have better financial returns. Today, many women are successful entrepreneurs and their businesses are flourishing.”
Achieving a harmonious work-life balance
Being a working woman Sippy Sujan admits that everyone has their share of problems and it could be a challenging situation to maintain a work-life balance. In today’s time, it is difficult for any gender, and on top of it being a woman and mother, it becomes more challenging as children expect their parents to be with them in their every little step while learning new things and be around as they progress freely towards exploring the world on their own.
Besides the everyday brave, powerful, and all-around amazing women who inspire, Sippy Sujan admires actress and United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson for supporting causes such as the HeForShe gender equality women’s movement.
Her advice for young and upcoming women entrepreneurs and leaders is to understand that there will be risks to take and personal sacrifices to make. They should understand what others see as their defining strengths and contributions.
Perceiving a Customer-Oriented Approach
Based in Singapore, ITCAN PTE LTD offers a full spectrum of integrated information technology (IT) software solutions and services. The organization is empowered to deliver enterprise client-server or multi-tier and web-based solutions across the entire value chain, spanning on-site consulting services to turnkey software projects. Renowned in Asia-Pacific, ITCAN is fully committed to quality, a customer-oriented approach, and multi-technology expertise. Along with Singapore, it is operating in Hong Kong, Australia, India, and Malaysia having 1200 employees and clients spread across South East Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Philippines, China, Japan, and the Middle East. The organization is committed to excellence in service for all its clients and employees.
ITCAN is offering a variety of services for its customers to stay ahead of the competition:
- Business Consulting: The implementation and management of the application might be a challenging task. Business consulting guarantees the greatest success and a quick return on investment since the team of licensed and trained specialists is available.
- Outsourcing: Based on the following application layers, the software development team of the company has been divided into three divisions, each of which focuses on the design and development of the corresponding software business components.
- Customized Solutions: Businesses value ITCAN’s experience, intuition, and comprehension of the nature of technical competence. Its work demonstrates the capacity to create solutions that are unique to each client.
- In charge of Applications: Businesses all over the world are finding it challenging to develop and support new applications while also maintaining and updating their current systems due to rising demand.
“It requires a bit of effort and an open mind, and we can begin by removing any self-imposed constraints preventing us from putting ourselves forward for bigger, better opportunities. Women leaders can often benefit from an extra dose of self-reliance, especially when others can’t yet see what we’re capable of. So if, for example, you receive negative feedback from your boss on something you think you could excel at, don’t give up right away — think about what it would take to show them otherwise,” Sippy Sujan concluded.