Month: October 2023

5 reasons to join a trade mission to India

Many people report having “gone it alone” to India, had wonderful experiences, came home with bundles of signed MOU’s – and then nothing happened. Wrong people? Wrong profile? Missed the market?

There are 5 main reasons a trade mission will work better for you:

With pre-mission briefings, backgrounders and just exchanging experience with others on the mission, you will know better than to sign up with the first person who says “yes” (did you know in India it is rare to say “no”?)

On a mission the Indian audience notices you – you will be connected with the government and business community (did you know that government and business are incredibly closely integrated in India?)

You will be able to work positively with others, leverage skills and knowledge of the way the market works in India – including expertise of Austrade and State Government Business Offices (did you know India is a “collective” culture and you need the right point of entry?)

Each day of a trade mission is learning – you will learn first hand from others and exchange your ideas with them (did you know most products and services need some form of adaptation to succeed in India?)

You will gain some valuable insights into the culture and history of this proud nation, so rather than filling your day with endless meetings you will be able to spend some time exploring India (did you know what a huge impact you can have simply by showing interest in the history and culture of India?)

As they say – If you can make it in India, you are ready for anywhere.

Take a look at this forthcoming mission from some experts:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7123800940507267072

Women, the Global South and inclusive development clear winners of India leading the G20

In the sense that the G20 is mainly about global conversations and agendas, India succeeded in directing those conversations and setting out an agenda which will be picked up by the next G20 presidency country – Brazil.

India’s G20 presidency was focused on sustainable and inclusive growth, including women-led development initiatives.

India also shifted the G20 somewhat from a fundamental economic platform, to addressing the challenges of climate change, disasters, growing water and energy insecurity, democratic backsliding and gender inequality.

India was also successful in building consensus – something which has been a challenge over the years. It welcomed the African Union as the newest member and signalled the need for great inclusion of countries, including the Global South.

Drawing women-led development into the mainstream was a priority of India’s presidency, resulting in the G20 announcing the creation of a new Working Group on Empowerment of Women to support the G20 Women’s Ministerial that will start during Brazil’s term.

Indians embraced and celebrated the G20 – and India as president clearly made a positive difference.

Can kinder communication restore respect and civility?

Something has changed in how we communicate with each other. Like the pandemic, it has infected Australia and might have spread to India.

Just for ease, some commentators call this change “Trumpification” of our public conversations. Of course, it is not just Trump, it is also an outcome of spiteful and hateful social media. We have forgotten how to be respectful and kind.

It is too easy to blame America for our own problems, but we have seen over there that trading in hate and fear – combined with deliberate misinformation – creates divisions that might be hard to heal.

Social media has encouraged and built extremism, has destroyed much of our civility and is weakening respect, integrity, trust and social cohesion.

It is a stretch to blame Trump for all of this – much as he has deliberately practised anger and misinformation – and we must acknowledge that what we are seeing publicly now is what has laid dormant in our cultures probably for all time. Extremism and hatred are now empowered and public.

Long term, it will be difficult to turn around the negativity unleashed mainly by social media. It is hard to stop the toxic infection of how we treat each other. But it is worth having a go.

Mallika Bajaj and her company, Little Yellow Beetle, based in New Delhi, is helping clients create kinder content. It is one step in the right direction and might just restore respect, thoughtfulness and caring to our public discourse. I hope so.

https://www.littleyellowbeetle.com/

Here is an earlier discussion I had with Mallika Bajaj.