MAM
SOCIAL unveils the S(#stree)CIAL campaign for International Women’s Day
March 2020: SOCIAL has always believed in paving new paths with the spaces it creates. This International Women’s Day, the brand is kickstarting some trailblazing activities – both inside and outside SOCIAL – to empower and enable its community of women.
Led by culture and inspired by our community, S(#stree)CIAL is not a one-off token day of celebration. Rather, it is an always-on conversation that is deeply embedded in the DNA of the brand. Divya Aggarwal, Head – Marketing, Impresario Handmade Restaurants, says, “SOCIAL is known for creating spaces that epitomize its core values of community and creativity. This International Women’s Day, we are doing just that by initiating conversations around the pillars of Safety, Inclusivity, and Opportunity. These pillars are the driving forces behind our pledge to move forward with the community and leaving no one behind.”
On the back of substantial experience in curating forward-thinking events across the country, the all-day café and high energy bar is hosting three exciting #charcha panel discussions around the topics of Safety, Inclusivity, and Opportunity at select outposts in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore on March 8, 2020. Adding to the conversation will be talk-worthy Live Art demos with three female artists. What’s more, SOCIAL is also collaborating with like-minded brands like MTV, LXME (India’s first financial planning platform for women), and Ladies, Wine and Design, to give its community a free and safe space to convene, collaborate, and communicate.
Special events include a fun session called Girls Just Want To Have Funds in collaboration with LXME, at antiSOCIAL Mumbai. FC Road SOCIAL in Pune will see Art Baithak in association with Palat Studios and Ladies, Wine and Design, where you can come by and discuss art with like minds and even buy handpicked art pieces created by women.
Says Riyaaz Amlani, MD & CEO, Impresario Handmade Restaurants, “We have also internalised the core pillars of Safety, Inclusivity, and Opportunity at a company-wide level. Since January 2020, we have been working actively to make our spaces safer, more inclusive, and employment friendly for women. I hope this gives impetus to other brands in the Indian F&B industry to follow suit.”
To make its customers’ day and nights safer at SOCIAL, the company has proactively employed women bouncers – aka Safety Warriors – who are always on hand to help, should you need it. SOCIAL also has a zero-tolerance policy towards incidents that make women uncomfortable in its spaces. Having shots at 12 AM? Going for a late-night gig? They’ll be there. If you need a cab back home after a late night of partying, the staff will help you book one and also make call backs to check if you’ve reached home safely. The goal is to ensure that your SOCIAL outing is fun, and more importantly, safe.
The company has also signed a year-long partnership with the not-for-profit organisation One Future Collective, to create company-wide policy changes and new trainings on sexual harassment in the workplace, gender sensitisation, as well as gender diversity and inclusion with empathy and heart at its core. Impresario is committed to the cause of inclusivity and diversity by also recently hiring a Diversity Officer to lead the initiative.
At your nearest Impresario restaurant, you will now find a lot more women working across all levels, with a new internal policy that mandates that a minimum of 20% of the workforce is to comprise women. By proactively employing more female staff across its culinary, managerial and guest relations teams, the company will provide more opportunities for employment and engagement.
Brands
Ujjwal Jain steps down from PhonePe’s Share.Market to start new chapter
Founder behind WealthDesk and OpenQ exits after decade-long fintech journey
BENGALURU: Ujjwal Jain, the entrepreneur behind platforms such as WealthDesk and OpenQ, has stepped down from his role as chief executive of Share.Market, the investing platform backed by PhonePe, marking the end of a decade-long journey in India’s capital markets space.
In a reflective note, Jain described his journey from launching WealthDesk in 2016 to building a broader ecosystem that eventually became part of PhonePe. Over the years, his ventures focused on bringing data-driven investing tools and model portfolios closer to retail investors, a space that has seen rapid evolution alongside the rise of discount broking.
WealthDesk introduced curated “WealthBaskets” to simplify portfolio investing, while OpenQ expanded access to quantitative research and analytics. Both platforms were later acquired by PhonePe, forming the backbone of Share.Market, which Jain helped scale as a mass-market investing product.
Calling the experience “brutal” yet deeply fulfilling, Jain credited colleagues, investors and industry partners for shaping the journey, highlighting the role of the PhonePe team in building Share.Market into a large-scale platform.
His exit comes at a time when artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape financial services globally. Jain indicated that his next move will focus on this shift, hinting at a renewed push into the intersection of AI and capital markets.
Prior to his entrepreneurial stint, Jain worked with MSCI Inc. on index products and technology, and with D. E. Shaw India Financial Services in algorithmic trading and high-frequency systems.
While he has not disclosed specifics of his next venture, Jain framed the move not as a departure but a reset, signalling that his next chapter will aim to tackle even larger challenges in India’s evolving investment landscape.
With one chapter closed and another underway, the focus now shifts to what Jain builds next in an increasingly AI-first financial world.
