Avantika Banerjee

UN I COMMONS Conference: Berliner Gazette

I was in Berlin October 22 to October 24 attending the Berliner Gazette UN I COMMONS Conference, where I was a guest speaker at the ‘Big Data in our hands’ panel. it was a jam packed but exciting two days exploring alternative perspectives on data governance, digital commons, digital good, online inclusion and diversity. Here is…
International Young Leaders Assembly at the UN

On August 18th, 2015 the International Young Leaders Assembly was held at the United Nations. The focus of the conversation was on empowering and inspiring young leaders in their respective fields, to impact local communities and embrace the value of being an ethical leader driven by a strong moral compass and innovation. The common themes that resonated…
India-US Relations in the Coming Years

On Tuesday, August 4th, 2015 the United States Assistant Secretary of State, South & Central Asian Affairs – Nisha Desai Biswal spoke at the Indian Consulate of New York. Consul General Mulay hosted the evening’s talk titled “Vision of India-US Relations in the Coming Years and its Strategic Significance in the Global Context.” Biswal laid…
Doing Business in India: Learn the culture code

In my experience, one of the biggest challenges faced by American companies in setting up and navigating business in India, is successfully negotiating cultural differences. Among management professionals the catchphrase is understanding the “culture code of India” – because while India’s robust economy is inviting, there are particular social norms that can often serve as severe roadblocks.…
Culture as a Change Enabler

When trying to bring about change at an organizational level, it is easy to focus on simply developing policies-procedures, but it is as an uphill challenge to in fact bring about change effectively through them. Part of the challenge lies in understanding and accepting that change management is directly correlated to and in fact…
Innovation from the lens of Bricolage

Bricolage i.e. French for ‘tinkering’ and a Bricoleur loosely translates into someone who makes things with whatever materials are available. The term gained widespread popularity through the work of Claude Lévi-Strauss in his book ‘The Savage Mind’. I find that it provides a useful lens to view innovation through. Most conversations revolve around the idea that for something to…
Innovation Framework: Value and Process

Lately the word “innovation” is everywhere – large corporations are building it into their models, young start-ups are basing their entire business model on it, government agencies are using it to be relevant, international not for profits are discussing it for growth and development i.e. organizations across the board are embracing this word and it’s…
Out in Tech – Policies that protect and encourage

On November 18th I attended an event (Building for Diversity, a Conversation with Facebook) organized by Out in Tech and hosted at the Facebook New York location. The discussion centered around what technology tools can tech startups (specifically social networking sites) build in order to support and provide a safe space for minority vulnerable groups, in this…
A company and it’s values.

When I think of startups, terms such as ‘Culture’, ‘Values’, ‘Collaboration’, ‘Connection’ etc. come to mind. If one was to consider startups that could be considered a success, then you have Warby Parker, Gilt, Etsy, Tumblr, Air Bnb, Uber as some examples. What do these start ups have in common? What is fueling the successes…
The E-commerce Battle for the Indian Consumer

The Amazon versus Flipkart e-commerce battle waging in India has been covered exhaustively (Economic Times, firstbiz etc) by numerous news sources. What is pertinent in this battle is not the investment, the VC’s, the business model, the retail competition, the lucrative market share or the advertising; instead it is whether either of these two retailers will understand…