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Twitter India hosts week-long celebrations to mark International Women’s Day
MUMBAI: From #EqualPay to #MeToo, a single Tweet has the potential to turn into a worldwide movement, with women across geographies uniting in solidarity and attempting to bring about positive changes. This International Women’s Day, Twitter India is kicking off a week-long celebration of women, starting with honouring 50 rising women achievers at the #WebWonderWomen (WWW) event in partnership with the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development and human rights organization Breakthrough, in order to share their stories and ignite dialogues that aim to empower women across the country.
Twitter is also introducing a custom emoji to add colour to the global conversation around International Women’s Day 2019. People in India and across the world can join the celebration and Tweet with the emoji using the hashtags #नारीशक्ति, #हमसेहैहिम्मत, #महिलादिवस,, #IWD2019, #InternationalWomensDay and #SheInspiresMe. The golden emoji is the gender symbol for females and an ode to the modern woman who is courageous and expressive. The emoji will be active from 7th March until the end of the month.
Tweet with #IWD2019, #InternationalWomensDay and #SheInspiresMe to activate the special emoji
#WebWonderWomen Awards
Earlier this year, Twitter India in partnership with the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development and human rights organization Breakthrough launched the #WebWonderWomen (WWW) campaign. With an objective to elevate women’s voices, celebrating impacts both big and small, and giving a platform for social change, the campaign called out to people to nominate their favourite Indian woman achiever with her Twitter @handle anywhere in the world.
Listen to this fantastic conversation from @INBreakthrough's @SohiniBee with Hon'ble Minister @Manekagandhibjp and @ColinCrowell from Twitter about #WebWonderWomen and celebrating women who have influenced & impacted social media using Twitter! @TwitterIndia @MinistryWCD #www pic.twitter.com/T3EpezxD65
— Breakthrough (@INBreakthrough) January 14, 2019
The campaign received over 300+ inspiring entries across the following categories: Health/Fitness Community, Media, Literature, Art, Sports, Tech/STEM, Travel, Business, Legal/Policy, Governmental, Entertainment, Fashion/Beauty, Finance, Food, Environment. Shortlisting 50 entries through public voting and jury selection, Twitter felicitated these women at the #WebWonderWomen (WWW) event on March 6th, 2019. Here are the finalists:
#WebWonderWomen RESULTS ARE OUT!!! Meet the 30 Web Wonder Women from diverse fields who use Twitter positively and productively for the greater good! #www @MinistryWCD @TwitterIndia pic.twitter.com/6os5SrRIbo
— Breakthrough (@INBreakthrough) March 1, 2019
These finalists will further be invited to present their work to Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Minister of Women and Child Development, wherein they would get a chance to narrate their journeys and how they have been using Twitter for Good. They will also get a chance to be a part of a specially curated workshop on social media skills by Breakthrough and will be profiled and featured in Q&As with Twitter India.
#SheInspiresMe Digital Mentorship series with Women leaders
Additionally, Twitter will join hands with ELLE India (@ELLEINDIA) to co-host a day-long series of digital mentorship sessions with women leaders. The series of 20-minute interactive videos will be live-streamed from @ELLEINDIA all day on March 7, and can be attended exclusively on Twitter. The video series will feature women achievers at the very top of their game sharing their trade secrets and hard-won wisdom with users, and dialoguing with them. Women leaders across fields including educationist Neerja Birla (@NeerjaBirla), restaurateur Gauri Devidayal (@gauridetails), illustrator and poet Priyanka Paul (@artwhoring), actors Kubbra Sait (@kubbrasait) and Maanvi Gagroo (@maanvigagroo), director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari (@ashwinyiyer) and internet sensation Prajakta Koli (@iamMostlySane) will present learning sessions for women in the workforce and also address questions on how women can tackle issues in the workplace, sourced through Twitter. People can interact with speakers by tagging them and using the hashtag #SheInspiresMe to get their questions answered.
For #WomensDay, we're bringing together strong, spirited women we admire to tell us how they do it. Join us! @KubbraSait @maanvigagroo @NeerjaBirla @artwhoring @iamMostlySane @Ashwinyiyer @gauridetails pic.twitter.com/eOwRIQqurX
— ELLE India (@ELLEINDIA) March 5, 2019
Speaking about the initiative, Supriya Dravid, editor-in-chief of ELLE India said, “ELLE is all about celebrating inspiring women who make us believe in the importance of colouring outside the lines. We are so thrilled to partner with Twitter this Women’s Day. Through our collective initiative, we hope that we will be able to get an insight on how they destroy stereotypes and zoom way past glass ceilings to create their own silver linings. The force is and will always be female.”
In addition, Twitter will be hosting a panel of women leaders in the technology and media industry, in association with @SheThePeopleTV to discuss women empowerment and leadership in the digital era. The session will be live streamed on Twitter and will feature Upasana Taku, Co-founder, MobiKwik; Kavita Devi, Co-founder and Digital head, Khabar Lahariya, and Nishtha Sathyam, UN Women’s Deputy Representative; the panel will be moderated by Shaili Chopra of @SheThePeopleTV. The panel will talk about how media and tech innovation can help increase and amplify women's voices.
Join us to celebrate women’s day month with these brilliant speakers – they are breaking new ground every single day – what does it take? New ideas, diverse perspectives, shared challenges & more – tomorrow live on Twitter 11:30 am @TwitterIndia #SheInspiresMe #SheLeadsIndia pic.twitter.com/VE43X11TxJ
— SheThePeople (@SheThePeople) March 5, 2019
Join the International Women’s Day conversation and spotlight the women who inspire you with the hashtag #SheInspiresMe, and Twitter India will review and add them to the list where relevant
e-commerce
American Express to acquire AI startup Hyper to boost automation
Deal targets expense management as AI reshapes corporate spending tools.
MUMBAI: From receipts to robots, the expense sheet is getting a brain upgrade as American Express moves to bring artificial intelligence into the heart of corporate spending. The company has announced plans to acquire Hyper, a relatively young but fast-rising startup founded in 2022 that builds AI-powered agents capable of organising expenses, generating reports, verifying compliance with budgets and policies, and nudging users with timely reminders. The deal, expected to close in the second quarter of 2026, underscores a growing shift among financial institutions to automate traditionally manual, time-heavy workflows.
Hyper counts Sam Altman among its backers, adding a layer of Silicon Valley credibility to the acquisition. While financial details remain undisclosed, the strategic intent is clear: deepen automation capabilities and sharpen American Express’s position in the competitive corporate spending ecosystem.
The two companies are not strangers. They previously collaborated in 2024 on a co-branded credit card product, suggesting that the acquisition is less a cold buy and more an extension of an existing relationship. With this move, American Express is effectively bringing that capability in-house, aiming to embed AI directly into its commercial services stack.
Chief executive Stephen Squeri had already signalled the direction of travel in a recent shareholder letter, describing AI as a “structural shift” in how businesses operate. The Hyper acquisition appears to be a direct response to that shift, particularly in expense management, where processes such as approvals, compliance checks and reporting remain ripe for automation.
Alongside the acquisition, the company is also expanding its product suite. A recently launched business credit card offers cashback and benefits at an annual fee of $295, with another card expected later this year moves that complement its broader push into commercial services.
Taken together, the strategy points to a future where managing expenses may require fewer spreadsheets and more algorithms. For American Express, the bet is simple, if businesses are rethinking how work gets done, the tools that power that work need to evolve just as quickly.
