Okey dokey!” she says, in her clipped accent as we settle down for a chat in a corner of the Hyatt Regency Mumbai, in Sahar (under a stairway actually, though she didn’t seem to mind a bit). Her entourage of young ladies who have bustled around with her, warn me that I have exactly five minutes to interview Cherie Blair, former First Lady of Britain. Four minutes earlier she had posed, in her navy blue ‘conference’ pantsuit, for our young photographer, whom she questioned amicably about her life, work and times. Like she, Blair, had all the time in the world. Which she didn’t. Blair was on this whirlwind, one day stop in Mumbai for the first conference she has ever organised, ‘Women Mean Business’, which had brought together topnotch professionals from across India to share their experiences on a range of diverse sectors, from banking to policing!

The founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, which aims to ‘strengthen the capacity of women entrepreneurs in countries where they lack equal opportunities so they can grow their businesses and become greater contributors to their economies’, has led her professional life as a human rights lawyer and has been, appropriately, the first spouse of a British Prime Minister to have a career of her own. (Her youngest child, Leo, is also the first child born to a serving Prime Minister for over a century and in her autobiography Speaking for Myself, Blair has explained in great depth how this happened!) Blair has spoken often on human rights issues as well as the need for improved work-life balance for both men and women. Today, in her address at the conference, she reiterates, “Feeling the incredible energy in this room, we can change the world; I believe that. I am personally committed to India. India is going to be the story of the 21st century and the Indian woman is going to be the real powerhouse.”

Former IPS officer and social activist Dr Kiran Bedi, had this to say, “Of all the first ladies, you have been the most active…. We must harness the power of women and the power of First Ladies of the world...”

The one day conference proved to be a hit, charged with incredible energy as well as good cuisine supplied amply by the hotel. Ladies, young and not so young, bustled in their business suits and these included socialites and new entrepreneurs Queenie and Sheetal Mafatlal. The line-up of speakers represented a powerhouse of Indian women and included MD and CEO, ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochchar; group general manager and head of HSBC India, Naina Lal Kidwai; chairman and managing director, Biocon, Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw; Vinita Bali, managing director of Britannia and legal eagle, Zia Mody, amongst others. Could such an impressive repertoire of names have come together without the dropping of that one, I wonder, as I start to put my five minutes with Blair to maximum good use....

Why India?
Because I have a bit of a love affair with India I think…I am not quite sure why but the more I come here the more I want to come back. I have really good links with the community in the UK who were overwhelming supporters of my husband actually and am very involved with the Asian Achievement Awards which I have been patron of for the last 10 years. I have had the opportunity to actually, really, understand that some of the stereotypes that we have about Asian women are just totally untrue and I wanted to do what I could to help promote the true picture of the high achievements that in fact so many Asian women are.

Why now?
I thought there was a real opportunity in India because it feels to me that women in India are in the position almost, similar to the sort of position that I found myself in 10-20 years ago in the UK when we started to break into, in my case, the legal profession and more generally, into business. And in doing that, the question was, what works and what doesn’t work. What helps women progress in business and what’s holding them back. And to some extent, I learnt, we learnt, through trial and error. Because I have learnt some great lessons, I thought this was a good opportunity because I could see women in India asking the same questions. And though the answers may not be entirely the same, I think it is at least a good starting point to seeing the sort of answers that we discovered in the UK and in Europe and seeing that these may be at least part of the answer here in India.

What are the main barriers for women entrepreneurs in India?
You know women around the world do ask the same questions, how do I achieve a proper work-life balance? How do I sustain a career, particularly at a time when I may also need, because of the biological clock ticking, to get on with becoming a mother. Is my working life over if I leave the workforce because I choose to spend some time with my children or do I get back into the work force and put those skills that I have continued to hone and develop whilst being at home, to good use in the wider world. These are the questions all women ask and the answers to those questions are often similar.

What part of your life convinced you to take up on the empowerment of women?
I think that this arises out of the fact that I was brought up by two incredibly strong women, my mother and my grandmother. My grandmother left school at 14, simply because everyone did. My mother left school to run the household, at 14. They were determined to give my sister and me the opportunities that they lacked. I think my work has been led partly by the impetus to pay them back for their sacrifices. I can remember that my mother almost never had new clothes so that she could get us clothes and books and access to the theatre.

How can women help themselves in setting up their own businesses?
If you look at how many women run medium to small businesses, it would be only 11 per cent. This is not because women are not good at running businesses, some do run family companies.... However, in business, women are not always taken seriously, raising capital becomes more difficult and very often women don’t even have collateral.
The other problem is, it is very lonely being the first woman doing something, particularly if you are feeling you are going against the grain of society. Therefore, I wanted to do something to say to women who wanted to do something that was perhaps more unusual, that you are not alone; that there are people here within your own community and people across the world who have been there, done that and can give you a hand as a mentor and a friend. As also to find ways to help women join up with men who do business through networking. There are lots of ways that men network with each other but many of those ways are not open to women and in fact if a young woman starts intruding in these men networks, they can be suspicious about what is actually going on. It is very important that women have access to networks and that’s about developing our own networks. Women’s networking would be different…women want to go home because of all the things they have to do.

Who is the Indian woman you admire the most?
Sonia Gandhi. I think she has been an extraordinary leader. She has known when to stand forward and when to stand back which is the mark of a good leader. This is a woman still up for many many challenges, she embodies that kind of ‘can do’ attitude which is ever so fantastic. Also women like Chanda Kochchar who spoke so well and Vinita Bali. And of course Kiran Bedi since it would be really difficult for a woman to make a breakthrough in a man’s world.
Those ominous five minutes are up and I am politely asked to stop. Of course, I must squeeze in one last question on her sometimes-criticised dress sense....
“Do you wear any Indian designers?” I am asking even as she moves away.
“I certainly do from time to time. I like Indian, I enjoy clothes like everybody else…. I have a function in the evening for which I am wearing a sari…now I only have to get the folds right.” She is already on her way down the corridor as she answers. This lady’s a sport and I know she will get it right, like she has done, all day!

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