Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Including people from diverse backgrounds is imperative for the small businesses as it offers a potential talent pool and also improves overall productivity of the firm, said Leenika Khattar, Lead, Diversity and Inclusion, NASSCOM. Small businesses can leverage people with diverse sets of abilities, skills, experiences and cultural backgrounds and utilise their potential regardless of who they are at individual levels, she said.

Talking to FE Aspire (erstwhile Financial Express Online), she said a truly inclusive organisation can be built on four pillars: diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. “Diversity means having a seat at the table, equity means having equal opportunity, inclusion means getting a voice at the table and belonging signifies the voice being heard. When you hire people with diverse backgrounds, you improve productivity and loyalty, which is a clear business imperative, elaborated Khattar. For instance, people from the neurodiverse community can be more creative than others, ultimately benefiting the business. 

Also read: National Small Industry Day: NI-MSME trained 5.49 lakh officials under 16,198 programmes, says Narayan Rane

Gaurav Bhatia, chief executive officer of ed-tech platform Rise, shared that 60 per cent of leaders in his company are women. He added, they went beyond gender diversity and hired people with disabilities in their organisation. But, as they made the transition, sensitization of the workforce became extremely crucial. To train their employees, they hired an external agency on how to work with people with disabilities and make them feel included. 

Bhatia was speaking at a webinar organized by NASSCOM, Becoming Better Small Business: Putting Diversity and Inclusion into Reality. 

Just cultural acceptance is not enough, he said. Infrastructure plays a crucial role too in ensuring people with disabilities are able to move around independently without any barriers. Rise’s office now has ramps and accessible toilets. “We want to ensure we have the workplace ready for diverse people,” he said.  

Abhishek Rathi, founder of data warehousing company Vcreatek Consulting Services, started the inclusion journey by hiring people with vision impairment. “We started with a small team and got them a mentor. As they got comfortable, they referred to new candidates whom we could hire.” 

Also read: How National Small Industry Day differs from MSME Day

Way forward

Anuradha Biswas, founder and chief executive officer of software company Prakat Solutions, said a lot more conversations around diversity need to happen as change in mindset, though cliched, is the only way forward for building inclusive businesses. “Inclusion is an agenda that needs to be practiced by entrepreneurs through discussions and self-assessments so it can be integrated in their organisation’s culture. 

Inclusion would be meaningful when everyone is welcomed and accepted the way they are despite the differences, said Khattar of NASSCOM. For instance, have a support system in organisations to ensure that the employees from the LGBTQIA+ community feel accepted.

Considering the large number of MSMEs in the country, they can play a pivotal role in making people from all communities a part of India’s growth story, she said.