John Chambers, the executive chairman of Cisco Systems, encouraged increased gender
diversity in terms of employment in Indian startups. “India has done an amazing job as a country with some of the top women leaders in government, business,” Chambers said, as reported by The Indian Express. “But as we go further down in the employment, you have to address the gender diversity in startups. It requires commitment as a country to change.”

The conversation regarding gender inclusion in startups came at an event by Uniphore Software
Systems, where the company announced Chambers’ recent purchase of a 10 percent stake in the company, but did not reveal the amount the stake was worth. Uniphore is a company which specializes in speech recognition and solutions within the field.

According to Chambers, India could rise to being named the world’s “startup engine” with the
productivity and increased presence of the startup environment in the country, if startups could
confront the issue of gender exclusion. Chambers said hiring women in a variety of roles for the company would create an increase in overall productivity.

“Start-ups are growing at 10 percent, India has a high chance to lead. It has a rich talent pool of engineers and I think, if done right, the startup engine here could be the best in the world,” Chambers said. “If I could bet on one startup engine, where I put my energy, time and resources behind, it would be India.”

(Picture courtesy: San Franscisco Chronicle)