When professionals who have collaborated with social entrepreneur, philanthropist and international business development consultant Anupama Bhardwaj say her passion for advancing opportunities for women and girls will have global ramifications, it’s lofty praise and well-deserved to boot.
As Founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of SHEQONOMI – the world’s first suite of mobile apps on Android, iOS, KaiOS, and PragatiOS – Anu Bhardwaj has a long list of accolades behind her name, including being named One of the Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs in 2020 by Inc. Magazine.
SHEQONOMI, she explains, is a unique podcast platform that was ‘built organically by millennial women’ to serve two billion women globally who want to enter web3, using low-cost mobile devices. It centers around women-led podcasts and an NFT gallery while focusing on rewarding content and listening.
When SHEQONOMI launched the “Amplifying Her Voice” Global Virtual Summit Series in March 2021, this must surely have been among Anu’s significant career highlights.
The series, in collaboration with The State of Women Institute, Women Investing in Women DIGITAL and 50+ leading global women’s organizations, attracted 3,000+ attendees, and more than 555 global speakers from over 120 countries.
With multiple degrees, Anu’s educational background is equally impressive. She has received academic scholarships and her qualifications include an MBA degree from the highly prestigious Stockholm School of Economics, a Master of Communication, Culture and Technology from Georgetown University, and graduate work in the Management of Technology Program from the National University of Singapore. In 2007, Anu was also the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai where she worked on a global benchmark on global women in private equity and global women’s entrepreneurship.
Based in West Palm Beach, Florida, Anu also Founded Women Investing in Women (WIIW) Digital. As the world’s largest digital media platform with more than one million followers on Facebook, she comments that the integrated media platform ‘focuses on global women’s issues, entrepreneurship, and investing for women and mindful millennials.’
Anu’s rare combination of ambition and compassion has enabled her to apply her passion and expertise in many fields. Her specialties include international business development for private equity professionals, high-growth female entrepreneurs, women in philanthropy, blockchain, digital assets, and deep tech.
Prior to founding SHEQONOMI, Anu founded several other organisations including Krypto 4 Kids and Qrypto Queens.
In addition, she has spearheaded several high-level international business projects.
These entail collaborating with trade missions, various US embassies in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates as well as with top-tier clients in global private equity, and venture capital.
Discussing the impact of what she does at SHEQONOMI, Anu believes it will help anyone who wishes to make an impact in the world of web3.
“Given the scale of everyone we have been able to reach in a short period, it will facilitate mass adoption,” she asserts.
As for the Metaverse, her description is both apt and insightful. “It’s a playground for those who can both access and afford living in a parallel universe and world built by tech savvy entrepreneurs and investors, regardless of age or status.”
With ‘tremendous hype around web3 and the Metaverse’ over the past year, she has seen many brands and large organizations taking advantage of the evolving space.
However, while the next five years may offer limitless opportunities, she remarks they will ‘only be relevant to those that wish to actively participate.’
One of the most significant obstacles that mass adoption will need to overcome is to address women who are still unable to participate and cannot afford being connected to mobile devices.
“We’ve been working on this issue at SHEQONOMI for the past five years. We’ve developed tools and tech designed specifically to address mass adoption by women, girls and the unbanked.”
Despite what must be a crowded work schedule (in between flying around the world as a keynote congress speaker), it seems unlikely Anu wants to decelerate her life pace anytime soon.
What excites this astute entrepreneur most about the future is ‘the ability for billions of women and girls who are currently underrepresented and underbanked to be given an identity, a voice, and the opportunity to participate in a global digital economic revolution.’
ANU BHARDWAJ’S WEB3 TIPS AND RESOURCES
Website: sheqonomi.com
