Shalini Verma

Two decades on, India’s policy towards the East has undergone creative transformations in alignment with New Delhi’s own strategic needs, economic clout, connectivity requirements, the expansionist growth of China, and the re-positioning of American stance in the region.  I write. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/g6EbkPpA Read more at: https://lnkd.in/g6EbkPpA

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A great wrap-up from Danielle Williams on the WeProtect Global Alliance Summit 2024! 🌍 Her quote from Bhuwan Ribhu, 'a borderless crime requires a borderless response, captures the global scale of the challenge and the collective commitment needed to address online child sexual exploitation and abuse. At Resolver Trust & Safety, we are proud to stand alongside the extraordinary organisations and individuals driving change in this space and, as Dani noted, events like this remind us of the power of collaboration and innovation in tackling one of the most pressing global issues of our time. The launch of the Evolving Technologies Horizon Scan report by WeProtect is a powerful reminder that technology is both a risk and a tool. Whether it’s addressing the rise of AI-generated CSAM, navigating global regulatory frameworks, or ensuring the wellbeing of those on the frontline, there’s so much vital work being done—and still to do. Through our on going collaborations with industry and academia, the Resolver Trust & Safety team is committed to supporting these efforts by providing actionable insights and proactive intelligence to our partners. Together, we can create safer online environments for children worldwide. If you’re as inspired by this work as we are, join us in championing innovation, collaboration, and action. 🌟 #TrustAndSafety #WeProtect #GlobalCollaboration #ChildSafety"

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At BlackInk Capital & Management, we’re on a mission to revolutionise the startup ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir. My vision is to cultivate an environment where innovation thrives, and entrepreneurial dreams are realised. I believe that Jammu and Kashmir, with its rich potential and untapped talent, is poised to become a hub of groundbreaking startups. Our goal is to provide early-stage support to visionary founders and ambitious startups, helping them scale from pre-seed to Series A and beyond. By offering sector-agnostic investments and a robust support network, we aim to: 1. Empower Local Talent: Foster a thriving community of entrepreneurs by providing the resources, mentorship, and funding necessary to turn ideas into successful ventures. 2. Stimulate Economic Growth: Create job opportunities and drive economic development by nurturing startups that can contribute to the region’s growth. 3. Build a Supportive Ecosystem: Collaborate with local stakeholders, industry experts, and investors to build a cohesive ecosystem that supports innovation and business success. 4. Promote Sustainable Development: Encourage startups that focus on sustainable and impactful solutions to address local and global challenges. As we embark on this exciting journey, I invite you to join us in shaping the future of Jammu and Kashmir’s startup landscape. Together, we can unlock new possibilities and drive meaningful change.

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Inspired by multiple events and chats with founders over the last 18 mths. I believe more such situations are going to play out in the mths ahead as startups run out of cash and need to explore distressed situations and closing. So here’s a short article on what to think about and look out for.

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#Women and #Impact – Two Passions Close to My Heart: When Ashish Fafadia interviewed me for a role Blume Ventures, he asked, “Where do you see yourself in 15 years?” Without hesitation, I replied, “Working for the upliftment of #women in #Bharat.” That answer has guided my journey, and it made me the obvious choice to represent Blume Ventures at Prabhav 2024, organized by the Impact Investors Council (IIC). Two packed days of insightful discussions, and here are my key takeaways on gender smart investing: - Gender-Smart Investing is about using capital intentionally and measurably to address gender disparity. It’s more than just a buzzword; it’s a mission. - The Pipeline Problem: Since COVID, the number of ‘investible startups’ led by women has dropped off a cliff. We need dedicated programs to ensure women founders get access to grants, mentorship, peer networks, and more. - Diversity is Comprehensive: It’s not just about backing women founders. It starts with venture firms building diverse teams, startups having more balanced boards, creating products that cater to women, ensuring safe workplaces, and fostering diversity across the entire value chain—from the boardroom to the warehouse. Equal ESOPs for women compared to their male peers is another critical step toward equity. - Anand Sri Ganesh shared some interesting data - out of 410 active VCs, only 2% are women partners. We need diversity at the check-writer level—more women on boards and in investment teams. Recruitment needs to be intentional if we want real change. Glad to be a part of a group called 'Women in Investing' that has 500+ women in VCs. Thanks to Maya Chandrasekaran and Sheeba D'Mello for creating this fabulous community. - Support Systems Matter: We need more initiatives like the Mudra Yojana for women and other schemes that empower female entrepreneurs. - Sector-Specific Wins: We’re seeing better diversity in sectors like biotech, climate, retail, health, and consumer brands. These industries are leading the charge, and we should take note. - Rural Women Are Powerhouses: As Jyotsna Krishnan rightly pointed out, women in rural India are inherently entrepreneurial. Microfinance can transform their potential. Kudos to our portfolio company, Kaleidofin Private Limited, which empowers under-banked customers by offering intuitive and tailored financial solutions. - The Road Ahead: We still have a long way to go, but it’s encouraging to see organizations like Impact Investors Council (IIC), British International Investment, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and many others come together to push for a more diverse workforce. Special shout-out to Ragini Pillai for driving some truly energetic and inspiring discussions on gender smart investing. With all the efforts - confident we are marching towards a better and more diverse Indian workplace :).

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The challenges faced at COP29 in Baku underline the constant gaps in global climate action, especially raising concerns for developing nations. Limited financial access is a critical barrier, as these countries generally require substantial external support for creating climate-resilient infrastructure, implementing mitigation strategies, and adapting to the deteriorating impacts of climate change. This highlights the urgent need for global action without which the gap between countries that are responsible for emissions and those suffering their consequences will only deepen.

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Climate action and environment are likely to emerge as key focus areas for #CorporateSocialResponsibility in the future. At present, healthcare and education sectors command the lion’s share of corporate spending through #CSR. https://lnkd.in/eBJAB6n2

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An insightful article on India's Panchabhoota Framework. I strongly believe India's climate capacity building shall be embedded and prompted by our cultural and nature-centric social system. Aligning people with a cause that has been an integral part of their society makes it easier to adopt behavioural shifts. https://lnkd.in/d_DchG_x #Climateeducation #India

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What role does language play in climate action? One of the most eye opening aspects of climate change, many years ago for us at YKA was that in Hindi and many other regional languages, the terminology and the explanations for climate’s impacts just didn’t exist. They’re often reduced to incidents or only extreme weather events. In Hindi, for example, the word for climate change translates to changes in water and air - which doesn’t even begin to define the impacts of climate change. Lack of language also creates a lack of visibility towards how intersectional climate change’s impacts are. In order to build a more active citizenry that acts and demands shifts in our approach to climate action, we must break down the hierarchy of language and find ways to engage with those who are the most vulnerable to climate change, in the language that they speak and understand. How could we build a new norm around this? What can help us communicate this better?

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The first time I heard the term generative AI was in a chat with Anand Chandrasekaran , a friend and an investor in BabyChakra | Good Glamm Group a few years ago. I remember asking a million questions in that chat. With a technology as foundational & disruptive (Sequoia Capital has actually comped it to electricity), I have been curiously unpacking contours since. I shared some in my chat with the fab Shruti Mishra of CNBC-TV18 in a more broad based discussion on Tech Entrepreneurs Association of Mumbai (TEAM) and #womenintech. But 2 thoughts in some detail. 1. ‘Bias Immortality’: With the training modules and historic data being consumed by LLM’s a lot of biases we are working hard to extinguish may find immortality. Eg: in Jeremy Kahn’s book Mastering AI, he refers to the subtle power of AI biases due to the data being fed that leads to shaping of user opinion. His example of an AI healthcare assistant falsely believing that black people have thicker skin or higher pain thresholds. 2 examples of where I forsee and term ‘bias immortality’ are women’s health & funding. The lack of research in women’s health and drug development for women’s physiology creates a potential bias in healthcare on male oriented research forming the bedrock for training models and in turn influencing research / pattern recognition for potential blockbuster drug development . Similarly funding going largely to men in the past and hence identifying past patterns of success in Banking , Venture leading to continued underfunding of newer diverse entrepreneurs esp Women. 2. Training ‘Models of the Mind’: Search & Social as interfaces for us to interact with the digital world were great and problematic in equal measure. As a child of the era of Google , Meta, we debated ad nauseum the impact on privacy, data, potential monopolistic businesses and social dopamine & amygdala hits. A paradigm led with superb AI assistants such as Chat GPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini will lead to a but natural shift to these interfaces rapidly: I love Copilot myself. But a question to ask is does this exacerbate an echo chamber of ours. Do these models have the capacity & capability to challenge & are they motivated to debate us. If unchecked, these run risk of being what I term ‘models of the mind’: ie. Have unparalleled influence on opinions, motivations, actions. In social, a few counter points slip in . In fact algos often prioritise debate to boost virality due to the Monetization alignment. With AI assistants , the current Monetization model with subs focus on 1 primary Monetization model : your eyeballs & your money. The model shifts from you as product to product for you. With your retention key, does this entail us being exposed to a non combative interface because it needs our business. I am a big believer in #AI: an AI optimist: it’s an important time as we lay the building blocks on how we shape future narrative. How to do it right is the question.

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Few articles on leadership have made a more lasting impression on me than this one by Venkatesh Rao of the Ribbon Farm newsletter. “BDFxing, or Post-Charismatic Distributed Leadership” is my Good Read recommendation for Aug 9, 2024. https://lnkd.in/gcWsdPWv Venkatesh covers so much in this article. Exposing the unnecessary nature of most leadership, most of the time. “Even in an ordinary org with no special architecture, 80% of activities don’t need to be led 80% of the time.” And then countering that “There’s no such thing as a leaderless org.” Enter what Venkatesh calls the ephemeral/transient leadership organization. The idea that certain situations require bursts of leadership from the team members best suited to resolve the specific situation. Or as he puts it, “The giraffe leads when the problem is high up, the mouse leads when it is down a long hole.” I love the clarity of this model. It resonates with my experience and I suppose my temperament. The job of a founder or co-founder then is to design for bursts of leadership. To welcome them when and where they are needed. And to resist the inclination to lead all the things. That small gesture creates the conditions for others to experience agency in their work. And an organization where agency is widely experienced is an organization that can accomplish just about anything it sets out to accomplish. There’s much more in this good read. I highly recommend it. #leadership #distributed #sustainablebusiness

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In Episode 21 of Friday Fun, we discuss a use case of strategic sampling, specifically, an ideal approach to conducting exit polls in complex electoral countries like India. You can watch the episode here: https://lnkd.in/gFByEMmi Previous episodes can be watched here: https://lnkd.in/gYpX5UgW #data #analytics #ai #ml #datascience #designedanalytics #statistics

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Regulation.ai@India: Striking a balance between innovation and safety! India must not delay implementing comprehensive AI regulations to ensure technology serves humanity's best interests and upholds core values. India, which took nearly five additional years to implement its Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, cannot afford a similar delay with its AI regulation. Interesting insights Business Standard Ajay Kumar #ai #regulation #india Angshuman Kaushik Tanvi Ratna INDIAai Emerging Technologies Wing, Govt. of Telangana AI Rezoomex https://lnkd.in/dbaXqDt2

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When I used to work in embedded software, I had the opportunity to visit manufacturing plants frequently, and we used to find very few women there. And today in this conversation with Kanchan Bhat on Wonder Woman Wednesday, we have spoken about the perception of people about women in manufacturing and how it is important for us women to stop giving excuses and start taking action. Kanchan shares how embracing challenges and seizing opportunities have been crucial to her success in a sector where women are traditionally underrepresented. She emphasizes the need for women to be bold, step forward, and claim their space in industries like manufacturing. This not only changes perceptions but also paves the way for future generations of women leaders. Don't miss this conversation with Kanchan Bhat. Let's inspire and support each other to break barriers and forge paths in every field. #wonderwomanwednesday #beyondherstory #WomenInManufacturing

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While ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues have taken centre stage in the corporate world, it is heartening that words like environment and climate change have found prominent mention in manifestoes of political parties during the current elections. https://lnkd.in/gKjRBV8i

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Digital Public Infrastructure is set up in India as a Public-Private Policy partnership that has become a benchmark for multiple nations, corporations & start-ups across the world says United Nations #digitalpublic #dpg #technology #india https://lnkd.in/g6ra3QaA

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In the advanced economies, if $100 is spent on R&D, two-third is spent by the private sector and one-third by the government. In India, it's exactly the opposite.

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