Colt employees have been working to help break the bias

Colt continues to break the bias not only on International Women's Day, but everyday. The company celebrates women's achievements, raises awareness against bias, and takes action for equality.

Here Colt's Charlotte Greenwood, Content Specialist, explains Colt's support for women in India.

Forging a focus on breaking the bias

Charlotte is a Content Specialist with Colt, who helps colleagues across the business find the subject and medium that best fits the story they wish to tell.

She is a communications professional, with a Bachelor of Arts (BA Hons) focused in Media and Communications from Canterbury Christ Church University, England.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a fundamental part of Colt's DNA.

"The global pandemic impacted the economies everywhere, however, India was particularly hard hit with the largest drop in the country's GDP in their history," explained Charlotte

"Colt's CSR and Network 25 teams in India felt the need to help the community, and in partnership with NGO Pure India Trust, they launched their Women Entrepreneurship Project," she added.

"This project was set up with the aim to encourage women to start their own businesses across Bengaluru and Gurgaon and provide them with the support they need from branding to up-skilling," said Charlotte.

"This initiative has enabled women to 'break the bias', International Women’s Day theme, contributing towards economic development, growth, and employment creation, and generating a sense of empowerment and self-fulfilment," she commented.

In the past year, the Women’s Entrepreneurship Project has:

received over 1,000 applications from women wanting to start businesses
opened 184 shops across Bengaluru and Gurgaon
conducted seven Capacity Building workshops with around 150 women Entrepreneurs across Bengaluru and Gurgaon

The team are on track to hit their goal of helping launch 200 shops.

An equal chance to women from vulnerable and marginalised communities

Pure India Trust has a vision to create an environment that will inspire youth to become entrepreneurs and acquire skills to be employed, enabling young women to transform their lives with education and empowerment. Its mission is to help women belonging to vulnerable and marginalised communities.

Pure India's flagship program, My village My Business, has transformed many housewives into successful women entrepreneurs. It offers skill development, leadership skills and financial literacy trainings, as well developing village-level self-help groups for women for financial sustainability and supporting students from poor families to continue their study and pursue higher education.

Forging for women's equality

Colt continuously promotes the achievements of women and is committed to creating a work environment where its employees are supported to break the bias. The company forges a culture where everyone can thrive, and have a fair chance to develop and progress.

"Can you imagine a gender equal world a world free of bias that's diverse, equitable and inclusive? International Women's Day is an annual day where people around the world celebrate women's achievements and take action for equality," said Jenni Sach, Lead of Network 25 with Colt.

"The theme for International Women's Day 2022 has been 'Break the Bias' and to accompany the theme there is a pose that you can use on social media to show your support for a gender equal world. At Colt we marked the day by celebrating extraordinary women from history, some you may know and some you'll discover," she added.

Colt celebrates extraordinary women through history

Some of Colt's employees share their inspirational women in tech history and explain why they are breaking the bias.

"My extraordinary woman from tech history is Dame Stephanie Shirley who was a software pioneer a child refugee who at five years old came to England in 1949. Dame Stephanie went on to found an all-woman software company that pioneered remote working and redefined the expectations and opportunities for working women at the time it was ultimately valued at about almost three billion and made 70 of her staff millionaires. Since retiring her work has been in philanthropy with a particular focus on autism and IT," commented Colt's Global Director, Digital & Brand, Laura Perrott.

"This International Women's Day I want to shine the light on Ada Lovelace. Ada's mathematical talent shone through in her early life and her skills and interest to machine lead to her work for Charles Babbage, the inventor of the analytics engine. which resampled the elements of a modern computer. As a result of her work on the project Ada is often referred as the world first computer programmer. It was Lovelace's note on analytics and gene that Alan Turing used as form of inspiration for his work on the first modern computer in the 1914," said Colt's CRM Manager, Sabrina Lorbschat.

"I would like to acknowledge Mary Bonato, an American Civil Rights Lawyer who fights for the LGBTQ community to eliminate discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. In 2015, she argued before the US Supreme Court that state bans on same-sex marriages are unconstitutional," explained Colt's Asia Lead of Pride Matters, Mika Yano,.

"This International Women's Day I want to shine a light on, Simone Veil because of her contribution to women's rights in France. Indeed Simone Veil who died in 2017 was a French Magistrate and Politician who served as a Health Minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament, first woman to hold that office. She is best remembered for advancing women's rights in France, in particular for the 1975 law that legalized abortion. She was also made Honorary Dame in 1998, was elected to The Académie Française in 2008 and received the Grand Cross of Legion of Honour in 2012," said Elodie Monnet, Colt's Service Management Officer.

"My extraordinary woman from tech history is Hedy Lamarr, the inventor of wi-fi. Hedy was a film actress a real icon for Hollywood and also a talented inventor," commented Colt Executive Assistant, Anika Villalonga.

"Hedy was awarded a patent in 1942 for secret communication system and this frequency hopping system was intended as a way to set radio guided torpedoes of course during the war, but the idea eventually inspired wi-fi, GPS, and Bluetooth technology, which are commonly used in the world today," added Colt Chief Marketing Officer, Yasutaka Mizutani.

"Alice Ball, born in 1892 was a chemist who at the age of 24 years old pioneered the treatment for Hansen's disease, also known as leprosy. It was the only working treatment in the early 20th century until antibiotics were invented. At the time chaulmoogra oil was the only treatment for Hansen's disease available, but it was almost impossible to use it effectively. Through her work Ball found a way to create a water-soluble solution of the oil's active compounds that could be safely injected," explained Macaulay Iyayi, Colt's Co-Lead of YOUnited.

"I want to shine a light on Elizabeth Feinler, creator of the first search engine. Between 1972 to 1989, Elizabeth ran the network information center which was a bit like a prehistoric google the NIC was the first place to publish the resources and directories for the internet, developing the original white pages and yellow pages directories. Her group also developed the domain naming scheme of .com, .edu, .gov, .net, and many more that we use so commonly today," said Colt Senior Marketing Manager, Reshma Murthy.

"This International Women's Day I want to shine a light on Dorothy Hodgkin's because of her contributions to chemistry, which she received the Nobel Prize for in 1964 by discovering the crystal structures of insulin, penicillin and vitamin b12. She achieved all this whilst dealing with rheumatoid arthritis from her early twenties," commented Susanne Hogan Co-lead of Colt's Disability Awareness Network.

"My favorite woman from tech history is Shakuntala Devi, an Indian Mathematician, Writer and Mental Calculator. She's popularly known as a human computer for performing very large mental calculations faster than a computer, for which she featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. She wrote the book The World of Homosexuals, which is considered the first study of homosexuality in India. She saw homosexuality in a positive life and is considered a pioneer in the field," explained Monika Singhvi, Senior Consultant, Packet Network Engineering.

"I want to shine a light on Meryl Streep for speaking out for women's rights and for reminding and encouraging women all over the world that we are at our best when we are truly being ourselves. My favorite quote from her is, 'what makes you different or weird, that's your superpower'," said Colt HR Generalist, Christina Wolfertsberger.