WFAN to enable women towards the path of financial independence

To all the Indian women out there, which path will you choose: that of confidence and self-reliance or one in which you have no wings?

Mumbai, February 20th, 2020 -- Intuitively, we know that women are good managers and multi-taskers; if one were to consider India’s political scenario, there is empirical evidence to suggest that women make good leaders too. Even so, when we consider the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2020, it's unfortunate to see that India has moved lower by 4 spaces to 112 position in its overall gender gap with a score of 66.8%. This means that the gender gap in India has been bridged 2/3rds of the way but we are still lagging behind in many aspects when compared to the rest of the world. Prominently, the economic gender gap in India (at a score of 35.4%) has been bridged only 1/3rd of the way and India’s rank in this aspect is down 7 places to 149th out of a total of 153 countries considered in this WEF report.

Clearly, there is a lot of work needed to be done in the economic and financial empowerment of women. The Women Financial Advisers Network (WFAN) works tirelessly with 100% commitment towards empowering women and giving them the right tools for financial independence. Partha Iyengar along with his partner Prajakta Shidhore (co-founders – Life & Money) together started WFAN with the objective of bridging the gender gap in India by encouraging women to embrace financial well being and training them to become successful financial advisers.

As Iyengar puts it, “Research shows, 60% of young women drop out of the workforce within 5 years and overall 26% drop off from the workplace completely. Our vision is to bridge the gender gap in the workplace in India, by empowering them not only to become micro-entrepreneurs and financially independent, but also to help them lead a balanced and meaningful life. Once they have the skills, they can then help serve other men and women across age groups through the four paths that we use to facilitate this transition towards financial awareness and independence.”

The learning process for the four paths mentioned by Iyengar are, Financial Life Planner and Investment Adviser, Holistic Financial Wellness Coach, Holistic Financial Wellness Program – Trainer, Holistic Financial Wellness Program – Children. All the learning across these is based on Life Planning and Coaching Process.

The low ranking that India holds in the economic gender gap is the result of symptoms like low self-confidence and financial awareness among its women. Thankfully this can change. With a view to bring the best minds to this generous and ambitious objective of bridging the gender gap, WFAN is announcing key international partnerships and collaborations across the four paths.

These will be beneficial in developing learning processes and scalable formats for members of WFAN and also for the overall community.

Speaking about the launch of these collaborations, Partha Iyengar, Co-founder, WFAN and Life & Money, shared these thoughts, “Our virtual learning platform along with various collaborations help us provide our members 24x7 support through Global and Indian coaches. Moreover, they will be able to learn from time tested templates, toolkits, resources and will have access to an amazing vibrant global community that holds each other's back. Our vision and mission also include the need to be in alignment with 6 out of 17 UN Sustainable Goals for 2030. We are committed to the UN Sustainable Goals and in the next phase of our expansion, we will be expanding the platform on a large scale to the rural market to serve women and the consumers of rural India.”

The journey began with a purposeful collaboration between WFAN and The Garrett Planning Network, USA founded by Sheryl Garrett in 2000. The 'Financial Life Planner and Investment Adviser' program focuses on helping existing Independent Financial Advisers to transition to a Fee-Only model and add value to themselves and their clients. The Garrett Planning Network pioneered the fee only hourly model to serve the underserved low and middle-income earners in the United States. The network currently has 250 members serving 25000 families across the US. Garrett and her team will be involved in making their successful model applicable and scalable in India. Read more about them on https://garrettplanningnetwork.com.

Next comes the exclusive collaboration with Sage Financial Solutions Inc,USA founded by Saundra Davis in 2010. Davis has pioneered the coaching profession focused on the finance industry. This collaboration will facilitate the certification of “Holistic Financial Wellness Coach” by applying their customised curriculum which focuses on balance rather than just financial awareness and execution. You can read more about the existing program here http://sagefinancialsolutions.org/.