“Giving back” is the phrase one often hears from celebrities who use some of their fame and fortune to help others.  Successful business people often give back as well, but we don’t usually hear about it. That’s why I was taken by the story of HUM Girlfriends (HUM is the Hindi/Urdu word for “We”).

Innovators are made, not born, and it’s fascinating how support, encouragement, and cultural values make a big difference in success.

HUM Girlfrirends is the moniker of seven remarkable women of Indian origin.  The seven met at a recent ESOMAR (market research industry) conference in Switzerland.  It dawned on Anumita Sharma (of the third eye Marketing Intelligence Research) as she watched six other women of Indian origin make various award winning presentations, that there must be reasons why they had all risen to the top of a very challenging field. Informal talks among the women (pictured above) at the conference led to the formation of HUM Girlfriends, with a goal of giving back.

The success of the the various women in HUM is even more remarkable given that India has a male female ratio of 116:100.  The reasons for this are many and complex, but suffice to say there are two India’s: one that supports the success of intelligent women, and another that sees women as a burden and have given the world a horrifying statistic.

HUM Girlfriends are dedicated to helping young Indian women become as successful as they have. They intend to use their expertise to work with charities in India to identify young girls with promise and assist them with education, healthcare, and mentoring.

HUM Girlfriends includes:

• Namita Mediratta, CMI Director Unilever, based in Singapore
• Rupal Mathur, an Insights Consultant at COI,  Central office of Information in the UK
• Sangeeta Gupta, , Head of Consumer Insights at PepsiCo India
• Madhumita Chakraborty, an Associate Director at the Corporate Executive Board in India
• Anumita Sharma, runs her own market international research business the third eye MARKETING INTELLIGENCE.RESEARCH  in the UK
• Sayantani Dasgupta, Senior Insights Manager, Novartis Swizerland, a published author
• Amita Mukerji, is the Insight and Research Manager at  Skype in the UK

In an interview with Anumita Sharma it became clear to me that HUM Girlfriends are another example of what Malcolm Gladwell wrote about in Outliers. People succeed not simply due to raw intelligence, they succeed because they are supported in their efforts to gain expertise. Anumita related a story to me about how an elder Indian’s advice (to a young Indian moving to the UK) was to blend as if water from the Ganges mixed with water from the Thames. It’s clear that great value is placed on education of children by the Indian diaspora — regardless of gender — and that support continues into adult and married life.  Careers are allowed, and Indian women bring a strength and sense of purpose to their work that has deeply spiritual roots.

Best of luck to the HUM Girlfriends in helping a new generation of Indian women succeed as they have.  May the spirit of Durga be with you.