More women should become social investors

Smita Ram, CEO of Rang De, advises young girl students to use disruptive technology to build a career in banking and financial services affordable and inclusive:

Rang De is India's peer-to-peer lending platform that enables individuals to invest in entrepreneurs from low-income households across India and create sustainable livelihoods. Rang De has a radical, uncompromising vision of ending poverty by sustainably leveraging cutting-edge technology to expand access to credit. It has worked across 18 different states and provided customized loans to borrowers from 9 different sectors. In 2017, the peer-to-peer lending space was regulated by RBI and to comply Rang De has transitioned into an NBFC P2P.

Smita Ram co-founded Rang De in 2008. Earlier, she was finance & administrative officer at Oxfordshire County Council and special educator & social worker at FAME India. She has done 'Entrepreneurship for Women' from Indian School of Business, master's degree in social work from School of Social Work, and Bachelor of Arts from Christ University.

LET SYSTEMIC CHANGES HAPPEN

As per ILO's recent report, only 19 women out of every 100 are part of the workforce in India. This data indicates the huge gap that exists in women who can be part of the workforce but who aren't. This should be a huge concern for all. Various factors contribute to this gap but what needs to be addressed are the systemic changes that will enable women to play an active part. These systemic changes need to happen at different levels.